IRC in the Science Forefront: Arthropod Updates

Bumble Bees

IRC Volunteer, Bequi Howarth, has put together a bumble bee report on bees recorded at the Native Seed Farm (under permits and training from the Xerces Society). Surveys were started in 2023 and will be continued by IRC Staff, Mel Letterman, this year. There have been 12 observations of the endangered Crotch’s bumblebee (Bombus crotchii) which is very cool. See graph (the the left) and click here for the Bequi’s bumblebee report.

Butterflies

IRC’s butterfly count data has also been used in a recently published paper on the nationwide decline of butterflies. They analyzed data from multiple butterfly monitoring efforts across the US and news articles have already been released on it. Click here to read the scientific paper and click here for the article from Science publication. The Orange County monitoring efforts and IRC are referenced in the acknowledgements.