CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon is the first state in the nation to have an Extension program of trained community scientists dedicated to preserving and cataloging bees that are native to the state.
"No one has ever done a complete inventory of which bees call Oregon home. Without an inventory, it is impossible to know whether bees in Oregon are having trouble or whether their populations remain stable."
Similar to Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardeners Program, the OSU Extension Master Melittologists Program intensively trains volunteers on the meticulous work of locating and cataloging bees that have never been seen before. While Oregon is known for honey bees that pollinate much of the food we eat, the state is also home to about 600 native bee species, many of which are important pollinators as well.
“We can only say ‘about’ 600 because no one has ever done a complete inventory of which bees call Oregon home,” said Andony Melathopoulos, Oregon State University Extension pollinator health specialist. “This is troublesome because there have been emerging reports that some bee species across the world are experiencing decline. Without an inventory, it is impossible to know whether bees in Oregon are having trouble or whether their populations remain stable."
The Master Melittologists program works with the Oregon Bee Atlas, which surveys the state’s native bee population in partnership with OSU Extension, OSU colleges of agriculture and forestry, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Although the Master Melittologists program just started this year, volunteers have been the driving force in the Oregon Bee Atlas since 2018. Over the past three years, these volunteers have contributed 70,000 new bee records from every county in the state. This includes some rare species, such as a new metallic sweat bee from the Alvord Desert, a wool carder bee found nesting in the sand dunes around Newport, and the first recording of a squash bee in Ashland.
Becoming a Master Melittologist
To become a Master Melittologist, volunteers undergo a rigorous year of training, which includes six online, self-paced modules covering bee biology, preparing bee collections, and planning bee survey trips. Participants also get a day in the field and a day on microscopes with instructors. After completing all the training, participants become apprentice-level Master Melittologists, the first of three levels in the program.
After more intensive study of different bee groups, participants can move up if they want to dive deeper into the world of bees.
"The program is rigorous, but it can be taken to any level you choose," said Mark Gorman, a volunteer Master Melittologist from Portland. “The core structure includes bee biology and natural history along with field work, identification techniques, and community outreach. But people can go further and do deep dives in specimen collecting, taxonomy, botany, natural history, and other topics. This is a great citizen science project for a great cause – so very interesting and fun.”
The volunteers have been finding bees in unexpected places. For example, a tiny 2.5-millimeter cuckoo bee was found next to a driveway in Burns.
“My brother and I have driven over 10,000 miles in search of native bees,” said Michael O’Loughlin, a volunteer from Yamhill County. “It’s funny to think that one of the rarest bees we’ve discovered was in the front yard of the house where we were staying.”
Partnering for bee preservation
The Master Melittologists program and the Oregon Bee Atlas work with the Oregon State Arthropod Collection to identify and preserve the insects.
“The insect collection at OSU has a wealth of historical records of our region’s bee fauna during the 1900s,” said Christopher Marshall, curator of the OSU collection. “The Oregon Bee Atlas participants are producing an incredible contemporary data set of our bees; one that will not only help us document changes that took place over the last century but will serve as a solid baseline for monitoring our fauna into the future.”
Volunteers discover species thanks to the rigorous training program and the support from Lincoln Best, lead taxonomist for the Oregon Bee Atlas at OSU, and the Oregon State Arthropod Collection.
“The volunteer contributions to the Oregon Bee Atlas have been constantly astounding,” Best said. “These folks are scouring the state, spending weeks in the field studying the diverse state flora and making incredible bee discoveries, one after another. Their character, camaraderie, and the seemingly endless biodiversity in Oregon, have created something I’m overjoyed to be a part of.”
Expanding national and international efforts
In addition to the OSU Extension Master Melittologist project, Extension has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tackle a national bee survey, Melathopoulos said. One project — the U.S. National Native Bee Monitoring Network — will build the tools needed to link survey efforts across the country.
Previously titled New OSU volunteer program tackles statewide native bee inventory
