Are bees endangered in the United States? Some are. The rusty patched bumble bee and Franklin’s bumble bee both have federal protection. Other native bees remain common, and the western honey bee kept by U.S. beekeepers has a different status. A species name and a location are the starting points for checking which bees need protection near you.
Bee Conservation in America
A bee can be common in one county and scarce in the next. Range, habitat and the date of the last reliable sighting help biologists decide where to look.
Understanding the Risk
Are Bees Endangered Where You Live?
Look for the species in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service database. The federal listing decision tells you its legal status. A state or regional survey can also document declines before a federal listing occurs.
The rusty patched bumble bee shown above is a federally endangered native species. Managed honey bees have a different conservation status. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates about 4,000 species of native bees in the United States, ranging from large bumble bees and carpenter bees to tiny solitary bees that can easily go unnoticed. Some remain widespread, while others have experienced substantial declines or disappeared from large portions of their historical range.
That distinction matters. When people hear that “the bees are disappearing,” they often picture the familiar honey bee. Beekeepers across the United States manage these colonies. Federal wildlife officials do not list the western honey bee as endangered. Instead, some of the greatest conservation concerns involve wild native bees, including bumble bees and solitary species.
Why are bees endangered in parts of their range?
A species that needs pollen from only a few plants can lose its food even in a green landscape. Similarly, paving over a bare bank can remove a nesting site while leaving the flowers beside it untouched. Habitat, disease, pesticides and heat affect different species in different ways.
Are Bees Endangered Whenever Their Numbers Fall?
Not every decline leads to a federal listing. For example, a state survey may document a sharp drop in one county while the same species remains common elsewhere. First, check where and when the researchers surveyed. Then look at what they counted.
Are Honey Bees Endangered?
No. However, beekeepers still face mites, shortfalls in food, disease and pesticide exposure.
Where Do Solitary Native Bees Nest?
Many females dig their own tunnels. Others, by contrast, use stems or holes in wood.
Are All Bumble Bees Endangered?
No. Some remain common. Others, such as the rusty patched bumble bee, have disappeared from much of their former range.
Which Bees Have Federal Protection?
For example, the federal list includes the rusty patched bumble bee and Franklin’s bumble bee. Find their federal records below.
How Honey Bees, Bumble Bees and Solitary Bees Differ
Start with the bee you are looking at. A worker walking across honeycomb belongs to a colony. By contrast, a solitary bee returning to a nest tube may be carrying enough pollen for one of her own young.
When most people hear the word bee, they picture a honey bee living in a wooden hive. But honey bees represent only one small part of the bee world.
The United States is home to roughly 4,000 species of native bees, and most do not live in large colonies or produce honey. Many live alone, nest in the ground, hollow stems, wood, or natural cavities, and depend on specific habitats and flowering plants.
Honey Bees
The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is not native to North America. European settlers brought honey bees to North America in the 1600s. Today, many U.S. farmers rely on them. For instance, beekeepers move colonies into orchards when fruit trees bloom.
In summer, a honey bee colony can have tens of thousands of workers. Beekeepers can divide a colony, move it, manage parasites and record its losses.
For example, a beekeeper can replace a lost colony with a split from a healthy one. That tells us nothing about whether a wild bee has returned to a meadow where it once nested.
Honey bees face serious challenges from Varroa mites, pathogens, nutrition, pesticides, and other pressures, but managed honey bees in the United States are not federally endangered.
Bumblebees
Bumble bees are native pollinators and play an important role in both natural ecosystems and agriculture.
Unlike most native bees, bumble bees live socially in colonies. Their colonies are much smaller than honey bee colonies and usually last only one season. At the end of the season, most of the colony dies and newly produced queens survive to establish new colonies the following year.
Bumble bees can also perform buzz pollination, a behavior in which the bee vibrates a flower to release pollen. Honey bees cannot perform this type of pollination. Buzz pollination is particularly important for plants such as tomatoes, blueberries, and cranberries.
So which bumble bee did you see? A photo of the back and side, along with a place and date, can help an observer narrow down the species.
Solitary Native Bees
Most native bee species live without a colony.
A solitary female generally builds and provisions her own nest. Depending on the species, that nest may be underground, inside hollow stems, in existing holes in wood, or in other small natural cavities.
For instance, many mason bees and leafcutter bees use existing cavities. Mining bees and squash bees dig their own nests.
Consider a female mining bee. Even a bed full of flowers may offer little nesting space if thick mulch covers every patch of soil.
How Can I Help Bees Where I Live?
Choose an action that matches the bees already using a place. For example, leave a sunny patch of soil beside squash flowers for ground-nesting bees, or add late-blooming native flowers that give bumble bee queens food before winter.
- Honey bees need responsible beekeeping.
- Bumble bees need healthy habitat.
- Solitary native bees need food and nesting sites.
Five pillars of bee biodiversity.
Are Bees Endangered Under U.S. Federal Law?
The rusty patched bumble bee and Franklin’s bumble bee have federal endangered listings. By contrast, the American bumble bee example below describes a measured population decline. Open the federal profile for each species to see the latest record.
Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
Bombus affinis
FEDERALLY ENDANGERED
Federally listed in 2017
Once widespread across much of the Midwest and eastern United States, this native bumble bee has disappeared from much of its historic range. Read the federal rusty patched bumble bee profile.
Franklin’s Bumble Bee
Bombus franklini
FEDERALLY ENDANGERED
Not observed since 2006
This species historically occupied one of the smallest known ranges of any bumble bee, centered in southern Oregon and northern California. Read the federal listing for Franklin’s bumble bee.
American Bumble Bee
Bombus pensylvanicus
CONSERVATION CONCERN
Relative abundance declined
A 2014 assessment estimated an 89% drop in this species’ abundance relative to other bees sharing its habitat. Losses were especially marked in the north of its range. See the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explanation.
