Blog by Craig Martin | Photo of Hunt’s Bumblebee on native Sunflower in the Pollinator Demo Garden by Dana Ecelberger
On Earth Day 2024, Bee City Los Alamos and PEEC kicked off a citizen science project on the app iNaturalist. The purpose was to crowd-source knowledge of the pollinators in Los Alamos County and the plants they use. Here, at the end of the year, the results give us an idea who our pollinators are, and also provide some insights about what plants might attract them to our yards.
The project collected observations from anyone who recorded the presence of a plant or a bee, wasp, fly, butterfly or moth within the boundaries of Los Alamos County. Just over 200 observers contributed almost 3,000 observations during the project’s eight months. A total of 471 plant species were observed, and 118 insect species. The most common plant observed was Purple Aster (Dieteria canescens) and the most common pollinator, which is also the most easily recognizable, was Hunt’s Bumblebee (Bombus huntii).
Most importantly, we identified 23 bee species, four wasp species, about 63 butterflies and moths species, and a few fly species that function as pollinators to local plants. All but a few identifications for bees and butterflies were confirmed by expert iNaturalist users, so our confidence level is rather high.
The first trend observed during our project was that most of the easily spotted, local pollinator species are generalists and will visit a wide variety of plants to seek pollen or nectar. For example, Hunt’s Bumblebee was spotted on a wide variety of native and cultivated plants. In contrast, the specialist Globe Mallow Bee (Diadasia diminuta) was only seen on Globe Mallows.
A quick rundown of all 400 insect observations revealed trends for both native plants and cultivars. Pollinators were recorded on about 35 native plant species and about 15 cultivated species. Non-native mint species were the most popular cultivars. On the native side, sunflowers, such as Crownbeard (Verbesina enceliodes), true sunflowers (Helianthus sp.), fleabanes (Erigeron sp.) and Purple Aster (Dieteria canescens) were the most visited. Milkweeds were a close second, visited by at least eight species of pollinators. The well-named Rocky Mountain Beeplant (Cleomella serrulata) and Beebalm (Monarda fistulosa) were also frequently recorded as pollinator hosts. Many of the native plant species appeared to grow in gardens.
As winter progresses, we’ll compile and post a more complete list of plants and pollinators observed in 2024. Or you can check out the project at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/native-plants-and-pollinators-in-los-alamos-county. We’ll be watching for your 2025 observations on iNaturalist, so please continue recording your pollinator sightings throughout the new year.
You can reach Craig Martin, and Bee City Los Alamos, through our coordinator email: coordinator@beecitylosalamos.org
Honeybee on Dieteria canescens in Los Alamos Pollinator Demo Garden July 2024 | Photo by Dana Ecelberger
Craig! Very impressive information and encouraging indeed. The butterflies number 63 identified is remarkable. Let us keep on going and all the best for coming New Year.