Sarah Kornbluth - Wild Bees of New York City

MHG Meetings

Sponsored By: Metro Hort Group

Public perception of bees is often limited to the domesticated European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), which is used for pollination services as well as wax and honey production. But this bee is not native to North America. Fortunately, New York City is home to over 170 species of wild bees that have evolved alongside our native plants and unlike non-native species, they are fully integrated into our native food web. Our wild bees include bumble bees, leafcutter bees, sweat bees and many more unique species that demonstrate a variety of behaviors. Understanding the geographical ranges, habitats and flight seasons of our native bees gives us baseline knowledge that we can use to monitor the health of bee populations and work to conserve the environment that provides the resources they need. Increased awareness and understanding of the diversity of native bee species is an important part of ecological conservation. It leads to interest in creating programming, involving citizens in conservation itself and expanding conservation efforts.

Sarah Kornbluth is a bee biologist who conducts ecological research and surveys to examine bee communities and explore varying habitat management regimes and intensities. She has worked on power line rights-of-way across the country, in agricultural areas, and in urban and suburban sites. She is an expert at identifying bees to species. Sarah is a Field Associate at the American Museum of Natural History.