Beewatching: A Project for Monitoring Bees through Photos

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Entomology
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Bee diversity is globally threatened by human activities, yet public awareness often focuses solely on the honey bee (Apis mellifera).
• There is a critical need to increase understanding of wild bee importance and distribution.
• Monitoring alien bee species is essential for ecosystem health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To raise public awareness regarding the importance and diversity of wild bees in Italy.
• To gather data on the biology, ecology, and distribution of Italian bee species through citizen science.
• To initiate monitoring of alien bee species within Italy.

Main Methods:

• Development of a citizen science website featuring informative datasheets on wild bee families and genera.
• Implementation of a user-friendly reporting form for observed bees and an interactive map for data visualization.
• Collection and analysis of citizen-submitted reports over a two-year period.

Main Results:

• Received 1086 reports from 269 users, documenting 38 Apoidea genera across 190 plant genera.
• Recorded 22 reports of the alien bee species Megachile sculpturalis.
• Observed the majority of bees (34 genera) on native spontaneous plants, including 115 Italian native genera.

Conclusions:

• The citizen science project successfully met its objectives of raising awareness and collecting significant ecological data on Italian bees.
• The project demonstrates the potential of citizen science for biodiversity monitoring and conservation.
• Future efforts will focus on characterizing citizen scientists, refining project activities, and developing targeted conservation sub-projects.