[Pollinator] Newly Compiled Online Bee Checklist

[Ladadams at aol.com]

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 Newly Compiled Online Bee Checklist 



In time for National Pollinator Week, June 22 through June 28, biologists  
have completed an online effort to compile a world checklist of bees. They have  
identified nearly 19,500 bee species worldwide, about 2,000 more than previou
sly  estimated. There is a current crisis known as “colony collapse disorder,”
 an  unexplained phenomenon that is wiping out colonies of honey bees 
throughout the  United States. This has highlighted the need for more information 
about bee  species and their interactions with the plants they pollinate. 

“At a  time when biological diversity is suspected to be declining at an 
alarming rate,  it is important to have a solid baseline from which to measure 
future trends,”  said Michael Ruggiero, senior scientist for the Integrated 
Taxonomic Information  System at the National Museum of Natural History, who led 
the recently completed  project. “This is very exciting because bees are 
critical for pollinating  flowering plants, including most non-cereal food crops.” 

“Honey bees are  the most economically important pollinators and are 
currently in the news  because of colony collapse disorder,” said John S. Ascher, a 
collaborator on the  project from the American Museum of Natural History in New 
York. “Only about 500  bee species produce honey. Most species, however, do 
not produce honey or live  in hives, yet they are crucial pollinators of crops 
and native plants.”  

Taxonomy is the science of species classification. The bee checklist  
includes currently accepted scientific names, synonyms and common names; a  current, 
complete and authoritative taxonomic checklist is key to linking all  
information about species. The scientific name acts as the common denominator to  
connect like information. Taxonomic information is not fixed and throughout time  
biologists reclassify species as a result of new discoveries or new research.  

“The bee checklist acts as a taxonomic ‘Rosetta Stone’ that will enhance  
communication, information exchange and data repatriation about bees. The  
completed checklist is a first step in modeling and forecasting future  population 
trends,” said Ruggiero. 

Compiling the checklist has taken  more than five years and the efforts of 
leading bee taxonomists on six  continents. The checklist, coordinated by the 
staff of the Integrated Taxonomic  Information System, a public–private 
partnership hosted at the National Museum  of Natural History, is available at 
_www.itis.gov._ (http://www.itis.gov/)  Major  supporters of the project were the 
Global Biodiversity Information Facility,  based in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is 
dedicated to making global biodiversity  data accessible anywhere in the 
world, and the U.S.-based National Biological  Information Infrastructure, a 
broad, collaborative program to provide increased  access to data and information 
on the nation’s biological resources.  

Important scientific contributors to the World Bee Checklist project  include 
John S. Ascher, American Museum of Natural History, United States;  Connal 
Eardley, Plant Protection Research Institute, South Africa; Terry  Griswold, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture; Gabriel Melo, Federal University of  Parana, 
Brazil; David Nicolson, U.S. Geological Survey; David Remsen, Global  Biodiversity 
Information Facility, Denmark; Andrew Polaszek, Natural History  Museum, 
United Kingdom; Osamu Tadauchi, University of Kyushu, Japan; Ken Walker,  Museum 
Victoria, Australia; Natapot Warrit, Smithsonian Institution, United  States; 
and Paul Williams, Natural History Museum, United Kingdom.  


Media only: 
Kelly Carnes 
(202) 633-2950 

Media Web  site: 
newsdesk.si.edu 


Published on: 2008-06-11



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Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator  Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 



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