Description
During 2018, Alberta Environment and Parks conducted an inventory of bumble bees (Bombus spp.) in central Alberta, Canada with focus on the Parkland Natural Region of the province. The majority (>99%) of 8808 bumble bees were collected in blue vane traps deployed 3-4 times over the summer at 31 distinct locations. Also included are records from a smaller number of hand-collected bees that were opportunistically sampled at 12 sites during work on field projects during the summer.
Blue vane traps were installed at 31 locations in central Alberta, Canada. Twenty-six sites were located in, or immediately adjacent to, the Parkland Natural Region, two in the Grassland Natural Region, and three in the Boreal Forest Natural Region. Each trap was erected for approximately two weeks within each summer month (May-August). Traps were usually situated where a variety of habitat types (forest, grass, water, agricultural) were located in close proximity (<1 km), and usually on lands designated for habitat preservation (parks, natural areas, private conservation properties). The mean trapping duration over the summer at each site was (1275.2 hours; range 696-2547), and the mean number of bumble bees collected at each site was 281.5 (range: 20-900) individuals. A total of 8726 individuals of 22 species were collected. We also hand-collected bumblebees at 12 sites in Alberta during 2018, and include here records of 82 bees of 11 species. All bumble bees collected during the study are housed at the University of Calgary Zoology Museum, along with as-yet unidentified by-catch (non-Bombus) from the blue vane traps. We thank Ducks Unlimited Canada, Alberta Environment and Parks, the University of Calgary, the Alberta Conservation Association, and several dedicated volunteers for assistance with this project.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 8,808 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Prescott, David R.C., Michelle L. Wells, and Lincoln R. Best. 2019. Survey of bumblebees in central Alberta, 2018.
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Alberta Environment and Parks - Species at Risk program. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 56dfeacf-b9bf-4dbb-951a-a5a5200a0589. Alberta Environment and Parks - Species at Risk program publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Canadensys.
Keywords
Occurrence; bombus; Alberta; Parkland; Specimen
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Geographic Coverage
Alberta, Canada with an emphasis on the Parkland Natural Region.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [48.98, -119.971], North East [60.021, -110.039] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
No Description available
| Genus | Bombus |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2018-05-01 / 2018-10-01 |
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Sampling Methods
The majority (>99%) of 8808 bumble bees were collected in blue vane traps deployed 3-4 times over the summer at 31 distinct locations. Also included are records from a smaller number of hand-collected bees that were opportunistically sampled at 12 sites during work on field projects during the summer.
| Study Extent | During 2018, Alberta Environment and Parks conducted an inventory of bumble bees (Bombus spp.) in central Alberta, Canada with focus on the Parkland Natural Region of the province. |
|---|
Method step description:
- Blue vane traps were installed at 31 locations in central Alberta, Canada. Twenty-six sites were located in, or immediately adjacent to, the Parkland Natural Region, two in the Grassland Natural Region, and three in the Boreal Forest Natural Region. Each trap was erected for approximately two weeks within each summer month (May-August). Traps were usually situated where a variety of habitat types (forest, grass, water, agricultural) were located in close proximity (<1 km), and usually on lands designated for habitat preservation (parks, natural areas, private conservation properties). The mean trapping duration over the summer at each site was (1275.2 hours; range 696-2547), and the mean number of bumble bees collected at each site was 281.5 (range: 20-900) individuals. A total of 8726 individuals of 22 species were collected. We also hand-collected bumblebees at 12 sites in Alberta during 2018, and include here records of 82 bees of 11 species. All bumble bees collected during the study are housed at the University of Calgary Zoology Museum, along with as-yet unidentified by-catch (non-Bombus) from the blue vane traps.
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Survey of bumblebees in central Alberta, 2018 |
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| Parent Collection Identifier | University of Alberta Zoological Collection |
| Specimen preservation methods | Pinned |
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| Curatorial Units | Count 8,808 +/- 0 specimens |
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Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 10.5886/ntpd1n |
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| https://data.canadensys.net/ipt/resource?r=bduc-bombus-specimens |