Researchers use out-of-the-box method to locate critically endangered bumblebees: 'The smell is always there'

The rusty patched bumblebee became the first bee to be federally listed as endangered in 2017, but researchers studying this rare and charming creature are getting help locating it from an unexpected source: dogs, The Guardian reported.

The rusty patched bumblebee is native to the midwestern and eastern U.S. and used to be quite common across that range. However, its population has since dropped by almost 90%, making it one of the many essential pollinators at risk because of habitat loss, pesticide use, and rising temperatures due to air pollution.

The rusty patched bumblebee would be difficult enough to study due to its rarity, but it's also hard to find. Rather than building visible hives, it burrows into the ground or lives in abandoned rodent nests. These nests are short-lived and destroyed by wax moths after use.

Only 12 nests have been documented in the last eight years, which is a problem for conservationists who want to make sure these bees can nest safely.

"If they don't find a good location to nest, the entire colony can fail," said Amy Toth, an entomologist at Iowa State University, per The Guardian.

So researchers hope that specially trained dogs will be up to the task.

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Laura Holder, co-founder of Conservation Dogs Collective, has spent the last four years using Labrador retrievers Ernie and Betty White to locate bumblebee nests. "Bee nests are really hard to find," she said, per The Guardian, but "the smell is always there, so the dogs can use their noses to find things we just can't see."

So far, the dogs have located 18 nests, none of them belonging to rusty patched bumblebees, but the search continues.

Of the rusty patched bumblebee nests that have been identified by other means, at least one recent find was in a backyard that was deliberately improved with native plants, making it an ideal site for endangered insects.

"We might not be able to help the endangered rhinoceros," said Judy Cardin, an educator with the Wisconsin Bumblebee Brigade, per The Guardian, "but this is something we can do."

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That effort will not only result in a low-effort yard that uses way less water than a traditional lawn, but it will also help support pollinators that keep gardens and natural ecosystems healthy.

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