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10-Minute Presentation

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-min: P-IE, Conservation and Pollinators

Tracking rare bumble bees with eDNA from flowers: a viable option that saves time and bee lives

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
11:24 AM - 11:36 AM Pacific
Location: Oregon Convention Center, E147-148, OCC
Oral Presentation

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Karen Goodell (she/her/hers)

    The Ohio State University
    Newark, Ohio

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Rodney Richardson

    Associate Statistician
    Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc.
    Indianapolis, Indiana

  • GA

    Grace Avalos

    Research Associate
    Department of Entomology, University of MInnesota
    Minneapolis, Minnesota

  • CG

    Cameron James Garland (he/him/his)

    Graduate Research Assistant
    University of Minnesota
    Saint Paul, Minnesota

  • RT

    Regina Trott

    Research Associate
    Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
    Frostburg, Maryland

  • OH

    Olivia Hagar

    Research Associate
    Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
    Frostburg, Maryland

  • MH

    Mark Hepner

    Environmental Consultant
    Metamorphic Ecological Research and Consulting, LLC
    Alonzaville, Virginia

Declining pollinator populations highlight the need for monitoring with survey methods that minimize risk of specimen mortality. For critical pollinator taxa like bees, difficulties in species identification on the wing disfavors touch-free surveys methods. To alleviate monitoring bottlenecks, we evaluated the effectiveness of environmental DNA (eDNA) gleaned from flowers against traditional netting. We focused on bumble bees communities in the Central Appalachian Mountain region, including the endangered Rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) and the rare Yellow-banded bumble bee (B. terricola). Across 55 sites, we sampled eDNA from various flower species paired with 10-minute netting surveys of all bumble bee visitors. We amplified the eDNA samples using bumble bee-specific COI primers, sequenced the products with Illumina sequencing, and compared sequences to a reference database for Eastern North American Bombus available through NCBI. We detected 13 Bombus species with similar frequency using nets and eDNA, minus two social parasitic species undetected by eDNA. Results from integrated occupancy models combining both datasets showed that detectability of rare species was similar across methods, including B. affinis, but detectability of the most common species was higher for netting. Overall, detectability with eDNA correlated strongly with species abundance in netting surveys, suggesting a quantitative correspondence between eDNA and netting data at the site level. We conclude that eDNA offers a feasible alternative for monitoring some pollinator taxa, though challenges remain. Expanded reference sequences and effective primers for poorly-studied taxa, and careful accounting for background eDNA with field controls are critical areas of growth.