The Empire State Native Pollinator Survey: Assessing the conservation status of New York's native pollinators

The Empire State Native Pollinator Survey was developed to assess the conservation status of New York’s pollinating insects, including select groups of Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera. The project was a partnership between the New York Natural Heritage Program, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, academic institutions (SUNY ESF, Cornell University, and SUNY Cobleskill), and the New York State Museum. Through a series of planning meetings, the project team and an advisory committee developed standardized protocols for surveying native pollinators in non-agricultural habitats across the state. Protocols included three field sampling strategies (extensive surveys, target habitat surveys, and target species surveys) combined with extensive examination of historical museum collection data. Field surveys ran from 2018 through 2020 and involved New York Natural Heritage Program staff, partners, and community (or citizen) scientists. We conducted workshops to engage community scientists in the project, and over 200 people were trained in field surveys, identification, and the use of iNaturalist to upload photographs. By the end of the project, we had sampled over 34,000 specimens and obtained 22,000 research-grade photos via the iNaturalist platform. Using conservation status ranking methodology developed by NatureServe, we assessed the conservation status of 457 pollinator species. We found that 38% of focal native pollinators are at risk of extirpation from New York (SH, S1, and S2). The survey’s results provide an important baseline of the distribution and status of native pollinators in New York to help inform conservation efforts.