How is NH's Bee Population?

DURHAM, NH - Researchers with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station have completed the first assessment of the state’s native bee population, providing wildlife experts with the first comprehensive list of the Granite State’s more than 100 native bees that includes nearly 20 bee species that had not been previously documented in the state, according to a press statement.

Sandra Rehan, assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of New Hampshire, and Erika Tucker, USDA research fellow, have identified a broad diversity of species of wild bees in the state, including 17 bee species newly recorded in the state. The research is part of the experiment station-funded research project “Sustainable Solutions to Problems Affecting Bee Health.”

“New Hampshire has a high bee species richness compared to similar biological surveys conducted in eastern North America," said Rehan, who oversees the UNH Bee Lab. "Our bee collection efforts recorded 118 species, more than a quarter of the species currently present in the Northeast, if not more considering recent bee declines."

While most bees collected in high abundance were sweat bees, the most abundant species was the common Eastern bumble bee. The common Eastern bumble bee is a significant pollinator of many greenhouse crops and often is used as a managed bee to help pollinate crops. Historically, it has been a common species, and since the new millennium, this species has become even more widespread, doubling and sometimes even tripling in abundance across North American bee surveys.

Sweat bees are common locally on many crops and flowering plant species, including apple, milkweed, coneflowers and clover. Sweat bees are found worldwide; approximately 70 species live in New Hampshire.

Read the full report online at the UNH website.