Mon Sep 09 14:04:12 UTC 2024: ## Photography and Conservation: Bumblebees Need Your Help
**Cleveland, OH** – A new initiative, the Bumblebee Atlas Project, is calling on photographers to help conserve crucial pollinators. Organized by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the project aims to collect data on bumblebee populations to understand their health and track declines.
The project, highlighted by photographer and conservationist Acacia Fike-Nelson, emphasizes the importance of photography in scientific data collection. By capturing high-quality images of bumblebees, specifically their heads, thorax, and abdomen, researchers can identify species and sex, contributing to crucial data for conservation efforts.
Fike-Nelson, a volunteer with the project, reveals the staggering number of bee species worldwide, with nearly 25% of North American bumblebees threatened or near-threatened. The decline of these essential pollinators would have a dramatic impact on landscapes, impacting the very wildflowers and vegetation photographers love to capture.
The project provides a hands-on demonstration of how to safely collect bumblebees for data, using simple tools like butterfly nets and plastic vials. Fike-Nelson emphasizes the importance of understanding the baseline of healthy bumblebee populations to track declines and recoveries.
Photographers can play a vital role in the Bumblebee Atlas Project by combining their passion for capturing natural beauty with a commitment to conservation. By capturing images of bumblebees, photographers can contribute to scientific data, helping to ensure the health of these vital pollinators and the vibrant landscapes they pollinate.
First Piper 