With more than 500 species native to Wisconsin, wild bees play an essential role in pollinating the state's food crops, and farmers are becoming more interested in learning about all the different kinds that buzz around their fields each season.
Developed with support from NCR-SARE, the Spring Wild Bees of Wisconsin online guide is designed to help users identify wild bees commonly found in Wisconsin in the spring and early summer by their color, shape, size, and habitat. Users can learn to distinguish among different types of bees and learn about the important roles they play in nature and agriculture.
The user identifies bees using either picture matching or a dichotomous key. With picture matching, users select the pictures that look most like the bee they see. With the dichotomous key, users will be asked a series of questions about the bee in question, and the guide will assist in identifying the correct type.
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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.