This year's summer edition of the Bumblebee Challenge took place during the first major heatwave of the season. Despite record-breaking temperatures across Germany, around 6,000 people participated in the citizen science project organised by the Thünen Institute in cooperation with BUND Naturschutz in Bayern. Participants submitted nearly 32,000 bumblebee observations, representing 24 different species and species groups via the biodiversity platform Observation. In addition to common species, numerous records of rare bumblebees were reported, including the Broken-belted bumblebee (Bombus soroeensis), Moss Carder Bee (Bombus muscorum) and Heath bumblebee (Bombus jonellus). For the first time, the Musty Bumblebee (Bombus mucidus), a rare species restricted to the Alpine region, was also recorded.
The ranking of the most frequently observed species was consistent with previous years. The Buff-tailed bumblebee species group (Bombus sensu stricto) once again ranked first, followed by the Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) and the Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidaries). Particularly noteworthy was the increased number of records of the Red-tailed Bumblebee compared with previous years. This trend is reflected by multiple records of the rare Red-tailed Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus rupestris). This social parasite lays its eggs primarily in nests of the Red-tailed Bumblebee and depends on this host species for reproduction.
The Bumblebee Challenge takes place twice a year: in spring from 20 March to 9 April and in summer from 20 June to 3 July. The citizen science project aims to collect data on the distribution and relative abundance of native bumblebee species while raising public awareness of wild bees. The Bumblebee Challenge was launched in 2022 as a module of the Wild Bee Monitoring in Agricultural Landscapes programme at the Thünen Institute of Biodiversity. Further information is available at: https://wildbienen.thuenen.de/hummel-challenge
Contact:
Dr. Sophie Ogan
Coordination Unit Climate, Soil, Biodiversity at Thünen-Institute
Contact: +49 (0)531 2570 2048; sophie.ogan(at)thuenen(dot)de