Attaching a radio transmitter to a bumblebee is a tricky business. “First, we chill the bees on ice so they slow down, hold them down on a piece of sponge so we don’t squish them, and shave some of the hair off their abdomen with a small razor blade,” explains Jakob Goldner, a conservation entomologist with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Only then can biologists glue on the transmitter and its attached antenna, all of which weighs barely more than a grain of rice. Into early fall, black-and-gold bumblebees sporting their new gear will be buzzing around the state, tracked by biologists who want to know if they can follow the insects to their nests. But the real objective is to study the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, a species whose range once extended from the eastern United States up into Canada. Disease, habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide use have caused a decline of 70 percent or so across the little-studied insect’s territory. West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains, particularly in Monongahela National Forest, shelter some of the remaining strongholds. “Now we are rushing to learn what we can about it,” Goldner says, including by developing the delicate art of bee tracking.
Southern Agenda
Catching a Buzz
Illustration: Tim Bower