Bumble Bee Diversity and Abundance Survey

The Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks as part of the Multi-
Media Monitoring study in 2015 initiated a project to characterize the number of
species of bumble bees and the relative abundances of these species in
southwestern Ontario. Follow-up surveys were conducted in 2016 , 2017 and
2018. Bumble bees were collected from 46 locations to compare the diversity of
bees occurring in agricultural and more natural areas. The data set includes:
sampling locations, including GPS coordinates and the county name; the number
of bumble bee individuals sampled at each site, which is listed for each species
and for each caste of a species (queen, worker, male); and other site details such
as the date of the site visit. The data can be used to determine species diversity
and relative abundance for the locations sampled. The data can also be used to
determine the more common species of bumble bees found in southwestern
Ontario and provide information for pollinator species diversity in southwestern
Ontario.