Sniffing Out Solutions: Texas Dogs Lead The Way In Bumblebee Conservation

A new Texas program is using a group of dogs to conserve bumblebees and restore prairies across the state.

According to KXAN, a new program from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation is using trained dogs to find bumblebee nests in the grass. This would help researchers learn about habitat needs for bumblebees and understand their threats.

Using trained dogs is highly effective, as currently researchers find it very difficult to find the nests by themselves.

“We are working on understanding what the bee needs to persist in the landscape so that we can conserve it for future generations,” Dr. Hannah Gray, a Texas Parks and Wildlife invertebrate biologist, told KXAN.

The group in charge of training the dogs is Darwin’s Bee Dogs, and it favors German short-haired pointers as they will work all day and work independently, according to founder Jacqueline Staab.

“I can be wherever, and they will stay pointed at the nest as long as I need to,” Staab told KXAN.

Numbers of bumblebee and other Texas pollinators are decreasing because of habitat loss, climate change and the widespread usage of pesticide.

“I think a lot of Texans know that our pollinators—our bees, our butterflies, our moths—are in decline, but I’m not sure they make the connection that it has everything to do with habitat loss,” said Iliana Pena, the program’s conservation director.

She expressed the program could encourage Texans to help.

“We can all be part of the solution. You don’t have to be a landowner with lots of land. You can own a home and just decide to plant a native plant,” Pena said.