Re: [Beemonitoring] Digest for beemonitoring@googlegroups.com - 11 updates in 2 topics

[Hannah Gray]

Hi all,

The video originally linked was part of a project I was handed at the start of my tenure with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. I was not in control of the media produced, as it was largely created by our non-profit "partner" Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. They wanted the "bee dog" approach to appear successful for fundraising, but in truth in a week of searching at a site with persistent bumble bees, the dog detected no new nests.

A few lessons learned in the process:

• Training material
• Ideally dogs would be trained on known nests in situ
• This is often not possible given the difficulty in finding nests.
• Training on old nest material ex situ may not simulate the volatile landscape well enough 
• Acclimatization
• If the partner dogs are not local, they may need considerable time to get used to a new climate/environment
• Eg. going from a temperate to a sub-tropical environment or change in elevation.
• We don't know exactly which volatile cues the dogs are picking up on, which makes it difficult to interpret "points"
• Eg. a point that leads to finding a ground nesting wasp nest could show they are picking up on some Hymenopteran cues, but maybe not bumble-bee specific
• Could be a combination of substrate + hymenoptera + nest material cues

My colleague is successfully leading a project using conservation dogs to detect a rare cactus species, however she stresses that even with patches of known plants, it takes a lot of reinforcement and training to get the dogs to detect new points.

Best,

Hannah Gray

On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 4:33 AM <beemon...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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• pros and cons of nest finding dogs - 4 Updates
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pros and cons of nest finding dogs

Sam Droege <droe...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 09:03AM -0400 All   Kim's post got me thinking again about the use of dogs in finding bumble bee nests.   I know there have been several efforts over the past decade in the UK and the U.S (likely elsewhere) but yet I don't hear of recent success stories using them (but I may have missed those stories). I believe there are several people on the listserv who have had experience and I think the group would benefit from hearing of their experiences.   Several questions come to mind.   What is the discovery rate of nests for a dog versus from an experienced bumble bee nest finder? How much does it cost to train such dogs? What is the success rate of training dogs (i.e. are some dogs/breeds just bad or good at this job)?   Built into these equations are costs.   Do costs of training or renting such dogs offset technician time? How long can these dogs work in a day? Are there habitat/bee species situations that are more or less suited to dog discoverly of nests?   Finally there are less quantifiable issues.   Dogs are not insect nets, they cannot be put on a shelf but will need love, food, and care for many years even if they don't find a single nest.   I look forward to the thoughts. Please go ahead and reply to the whole list, not just me.   sam   DOG, n. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world's worship. This Divine Being in some of his smaller and silkier incarnations takes, in the affection of Woman, the place to which there is no human male aspirant. The Dog is a survival -- an anachronism. He toils not, neither does he spin, yet Solomon in all his glory never lay upon a door-mat all day long, sun-soaked and fly-fed and fat, while his master worked for the means wherewith to purchase the idle wag of the Solomonic tail, seasoned with a look of tolerant recognition. - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), "The Devil's Dictionary", 1911:

Jim Bess <jab...@charter.net>: Mar 18 01:45PM Hi All,   Here's a link to the "Conservation Dog Collective" and their bumblebee program:   https://www.conservationdogscollective.org/bumble-bee-nest-program   Cheers,   Jim   --------------------   From: "Sam Droege" <droe...@gmail.com>   Reply-To: <droe...@gmail.com>   To: "beemonitoring" <beemon...@googlegroups.com>   Sent: March 18, 2026 at 7:04 AM MDT   Subject: [Beemonitoring] pros and cons of nest finding dogs   All   Kim's post got me thinking again about the use of dogs in finding bumble bee nests.   I know there have been several efforts over the past decade in the UK and the US (likely elsewhere) but yet I don't hear of recent success stories using them (but I may have missed those stories). I believe there are several people on the listserv who have had experience and I think the group would benefit from hearing of their experiences.   Several questions come to mind.   What is the discovery rate of nests for a dog versus from an experienced bumble bee nest finder?   How much does it cost to train such dogs?   What is the success rate of training dogs (ie are some dogs/breeds just bad or good at this job)?   Built into these equations are costs.   Do costs of training or renting such dogs offset technician time?   How long can these dogs work in a day?   Are there habitat/bee species situations that are more or less suited to dog discoverly of nests?   Finally there are less quantifiable issues.   Dogs are not insect nets, they cannot be put on a shelf but will need love, food, and care for many years even if they don't find a single nest.   I look forward to the thoughts. Please go ahead and reply to the whole list, not just me.   sam   DOG, n. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the   overflow and surplus of the world's worship. This Divine Being in some of his   smaller and silkier incarnations takes, in the affection of Woman, the place   to which there is no human male aspirant. The Dog is a survival -- an   anachronism. He toils not, neither does he spin, yet Solomon in all his glory   never lay upon a door-mat all day long, sun-soaked and fly-fed and fat, while   his master worked for the means wherewith to purchase the idle wag of the   Solomonic tail, seasoned with a look of tolerant recognition.   - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), "The Devil's Dictionary", 1911:   --   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group.   To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com.   To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/CADH2cDCBirE-ztA-Ss1GM4b3m-MSGdrG7arnxTGXA-R5hEXZMg%40mail.gmail.com.

Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 09:48PM +0800 Hi Sam, I think when it comes to Bombus humans are probably fairly comparable , but other ground nesting bees … potentially much harder . For example the three listed species of bees in Aus - all ground nesting (Leioproctus) but no one has ever found their nests. So maybe detection dogs would be more effective here than an observer walking back and forth through bush hoping to see a female enter / exit a burrow .   I would be keen to hear of the success rate of dogs being used for Bombus nest finding if such data is out there for sure (negative outcomes are still just as useful in conversation!). But I do think if dogs can detect scats of koalas with chlamydia, there’s a chance ! It may not be species specific though eg all Bombus / all Leioproctus are fairly similar smelling (my ape nose unfortunately cannot tell, apart from Hylaeinae and Megachile leaving a characteristic odor each in my specimen jars). If I recall there was a meme going around of a failed narc detection dog who sniffed out diseased honey bee hives ?   As to dog upkeep - conservation dogs that I know of are well loved and looked after . I for one will happily adopt any “failed” bee detection dogs … but it’s still an ethical consideration that needs to be had.   Best, Kit     Dr Kit Prendergast Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology) Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni   Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette   ORCiD: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099>* Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette 'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/ Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent Insta: @bee.babette_performer: https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en

Diane Larson <dian...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 05:31PM -0600 I've been interested in this topic for some time and was able to easily train my scentwork dog on bumble bee nest material that was given to me from a commercial nest. My understanding is that dogs do not differentiate bumble bee species, but alert on some other factor present in the nest. The limiting factor is finding enough known, in situ nests to proof the dog on before she could be deployed in any kind of unknown search. On reflection, though, I am now hesitant to have my dog trying to source nests in areas with venomous snakes (where I now live). When she searches, she is very much "on task" and could easily run into trouble without recognizing it. The best paper I've found on this topic is   Liczner, A. R., V. J. MacPhail, D. A. Woollett, N. L. Richards, and S. R. Colla. 2021. Training and usage of detection dogs to better understand bumble bee nesting habitat: Challenges and opportunities. Plos One 16:18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249248.   Diane ************************************************** Diane L. Larson, PhD U.S. Geological Survey, Retired

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Bee nest sniffing dogs?

Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 08:52AM +0800 Dear Kimberly, You are not alone ! I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. We now dogs are excellent at sniffing out all kinds of things (even koalas with chlamydia in Australia !). Finding ground nesting bee nests is at present a matter of dumb luck really and sniffer dogs could change that. It’s so desperately needed! In Aus the three species listed with extinction are all ground nesting but the nests have never been found .   I’ve been meaning to see if I can trial it in Aus as there’s a numbers of K9s for conservation orgs … funding is always the hurdle of course.   Congrats on your new puppy 🐶 too   Best, Kit   Dr Kit Prendergast Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology) Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni   Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette   ORCiD: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099>* Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette 'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/ Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent Insta: @bee.babette_performer: https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en       On Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 8:46 am, Kimberly N. Russell <kimbe...@gmail.com> wrote:

John Purdy <johnr...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 09:01AM -0400 I certainly agree. Earlier this year I heard a lecture from a dog handler in Alberta. He described using dogs to find individual seedlings in a project to eradicate an outbreak of an invasive plant species in a localized area of rough terrain. The effort was successful. This example was the most relevant of the many he presented. A promising opportunity with diverse applications. With proper training I think it could be non-destructive.   Regards John Purdy   On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 8:49 AM Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com> wrote:

<mslu...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 12:04PM -0400 Hello!     I am responding as an ecologically-focused CT gardener (undergrad biology degree, PhD in science field so understand the rigors of research) with a dog trained for several years in scent-work. We (and other human-canine scent-trained pairs) have been looking for ways in which we might apply our interest in scent-work to ‘real-world’ issues – including the ID of plants/insects/other-related issues of interest.     I’d like to encourage you to explore the development of working-relationships with both professional groups and pet-dog owners.     In the US, there has been work done at Virginia Tech on using ‘citizen-scientist’-dogs to identify invasives (Spotted Lantern Fly, grapevine fungal disease): https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/05/cals-spotted-lanternfly-dog-study.html     Melissa McCue McGrath (cc’ed on this email) is a dog trainer in Maine who has worked with training dogs to identify the Spotted Lantern Fly. Below (italics): an excerpt from an email where she describes a study in teaching pet dogs to find SLF:     We were able to teach 5 out of my 6 charges to find SLF in the woods using standard nosework and scentwork procedures. Pairing an odor (could be birch oil, could be vanilla from your cabinet, could be freeze killed larva from SLF!) with a highly motivating reinforcer (our dogs used cheese, though toys and other reinforcers) were used across the nation in the study.     The complication is finding SLF eggs that won't hatch that will go on to attract the black mold that kills nearly every crop it lays eggs on. Freeze killing the eggs and putting them in metal mesh was what we ended up getting from the scientists who ran the study.     This won't work for every invasive. We will not be able to do this for brown tailed moth or other venomous creatures that might have barbs in their hair/fur to harm dog's noses, or are toxic in other ways. The dogs cannot do this for every invasive or problem, but it appears through the research, pet dogs WERE able to find SLF with over 80% accuracy! Which...is amazing!     https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/spotted-lantern-fly-work/ has most of the news articles and the videos of library talks I've given on these dogs. There are podcasts in there (link here to podcasts, mostly about SLF https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/podcasts/) if listening is easier!     I think the best way to go if you are serious about this work is maybe reaching out to the K9 Conservation folk https://k9conservationists.org/conservation-canines-isabelle-groc/ as they do the real work day to day, including getting dogs field fit for this work, or Science Dogs of Maine https://www.sciencedogsne.com who also do the same thing.     So: as you consider the possibility of involving dogs in research, please consider also the possibility of involving citizen-scientist volunteers and their scent-trained dogs.     Kind Regards,     Mary Lung’aho   Glastonbury, CT     From: beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Purdy Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 9:01 AM To: kitprend...@gmail.com Cc: kimbe...@gmail.com; beemon...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?     I certainly agree. Earlier this year I heard a lecture from a dog handler in Alberta.   He described using dogs to find individual seedlings in a project to eradicate an outbreak of an invasive plant species in a localized area of rough terrain. The effort was successful. This example was the most relevant of the many he presented. A promising opportunity with diverse applications. With proper training I think it could be non-destructive.     Regards   John Purdy     On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 8:49 AM Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com <mailto:kitprendergast21@gmail.com> > wrote:   Dear Kimberly,   You are not alone ! I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. We now dogs are excellent at sniffing out all kinds of things (even koalas with chlamydia in Australia !). Finding ground nesting bee nests is at present a matter of dumb luck really and sniffer dogs could change that. It’s so desperately needed! In Aus the three species listed with extinction are all ground nesting but the nests have never been found .     I’ve been meaning to see if I can trial it in Aus as there’s a numbers of K9s for conservation orgs … funding is always the hurdle of course.     Congrats on your new puppy 🐶 too     Best,   Kit         Dr Kit Prendergast   Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist   University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology)   Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni     Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette     ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099   Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research   YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette   'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/   Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u <https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent> &page=1&sortOrder=recent   Insta: @bee.babette_performer:   https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en           On Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 8:46 am, Kimberly N. Russell <kimbe...@gmail.com <mailto:kimberlyrus@gmail.com> > wrote:   Hi All,   I am a little embarrassed to be asking this question, but we are a friendly, non-judgemental group, yes?? Anyway, I have heard about bumblebee nest sniffing dogs (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m6d7mSRUeCQ) and was wondering if we think it might be possible to train a dog to find OTHER native bee nests in the ground. Seems like a significantly harder ask for non-social nesters. And not sure exactly how training would work. But if dogs can detect cancer cells in people, then maybe?   Why did I start thinking about this? Well, I got myself a new pup in December and as soon as we had a few days of spring weather, she became obsessed with the ground. Just stares and listens (she is half German Shepherd and half Husky, with giant pointy ears) as if she can sense the animals awakening in the soil. So it got me thinking. Plus, as many of you know, I have been doing some experiments to try to make supplemental habitats for ground nesting bees and could really use a good technique other than emergence traps to detect colonization. So maybe dogs? Cheaper and logistically easier than fancy imaging equipment (ha!).   Just curious about peoples thoughts on this. Happy St. Patricks Day! ;-)   Thanks, Kim ******************************* Dr. Kimberly N. Russell (she/her/hers)   Undergraduate Program Director Associate Professor of Teaching Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources Rutgers University, New Brunswick   Office: 124 ENR Building Phone: 848 932 9383 e-mail: kimberly...@rutgers.edu <mailto:kimberly.russell@rutgers.edu> web: https://knrussellbeeteam.com https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me *******************************   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. 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Roulston, T'ai H (thr8z) <th...@virginia.edu>: Mar 18 04:32PM I would love to see this work and I’ve seen lots of popular press articles full of optimism and anecdotes about it. The only two papers I’ve seen on this have not left me optimistic (both from the Goulson lab, one positive about dogs, the other not so much —see refs below).     O’Connor, S., Park, K. J., & Goulson, D. (2012). Humans versus dogs; A comparison of methods for the detection of bumble bee nests. Journal of Apicultural Research, 51(2), 204–211. https://doi.org/10.3896/IBRA.1.51.2.09   Waters, J., O’Connor, S., Park, K. J., & Goulson, D. (2011). Testing a detection dog to locate bumblebee colonies and estimate nest density. Apidologie, 42(2), 200–205. https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010056   I saw a presentation about it last year in which I was able to do some back of envelope calculations and they didn’t seem to support less effort per nest than I’ve had with human searches.   Pugesek (2021) still seems to be the human search results that give me the most optimism for being able to really find nests at a local scale when searching, but lots of effort per nest there too (Pugesek, G., & Crone, E. E. (2021). Contrasting effects of land cover on nesting habitat use and reproductive output for bumble bees. Ecosphere, 12(7). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3642)   If dog finding of nests is getting as efficient as it sounds in concept, it would be great to have some more data on dog versus human comparisons in the same habitat to make me optimistic about this once again.   T'ai       On Mar 18, 2026, at 12:04 PM, mslu...@gmail.com wrote:   Hello!   I am responding as an ecologically-focused CT gardener (undergrad biology degree, PhD in science field so understand the rigors of research) with a dog trained for several years in scent-work. We (and other human-canine scent-trained pairs) have been looking for ways in which we might apply our interest in scent-work to ‘real-world’ issues – including the ID of plants/insects/other-related issues of interest.   I’d like to encourage you to explore the development of working-relationships with both professional groups and pet-dog owners.   In the US, there has been work done at Virginia Tech on using ‘citizen-scientist’-dogs to identify invasives (Spotted Lantern Fly, grapevine fungal disease): https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/05/cals-spotted-lanternfly-dog-study.html   Melissa McCue McGrath (cc’ed on this email) is a dog trainer in Maine who has worked with training dogs to identify the Spotted Lantern Fly. Below (italics): an excerpt from an email where she describes a study in teaching pet dogs to find SLF:   We were able to teach 5 out of my 6 charges to find SLF in the woods using standard nosework and scentwork procedures. Pairing an odor (could be birch oil, could be vanilla from your cabinet, could be freeze killed larva from SLF!) with a highly motivating reinforcer (our dogs used cheese, though toys and other reinforcers) were used across the nation in the study.   The complication is finding SLF eggs that won't hatch that will go on to attract the black mold that kills nearly every crop it lays eggs on. Freeze killing the eggs and putting them in metal mesh was what we ended up getting from the scientists who ran the study.   This won't work for every invasive. We will not be able to do this for brown tailed moth or other venomous creatures that might have barbs in their hair/fur to harm dog's noses, or are toxic in other ways. The dogs cannot do this for every invasive or problem, but it appears through the research, pet dogs WERE able to find SLF with over 80% accuracy! Which...is amazing!   https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/spotted-lantern-fly-work/ has most of the news articles and the videos of library talks I've given on these dogs. There are podcasts in there (link here to podcasts, mostly about SLF https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/podcasts/) if listening is easier!   I think the best way to go if you are serious about this work is maybe reaching out to the K9 Conservation folk https://k9conservationists.org/conservation-canines-isabelle-groc/ as they do the real work day to day, including getting dogs field fit for this work, or Science Dogs of Maine https://www.sciencedogsne.com<https://www.sciencedogsne.com/> who also do the same thing.   So: as you consider the possibility of involving dogs in research, please consider also the possibility of involving citizen-scientist volunteers and their scent-trained dogs.   Kind Regards,   Mary Lung’aho Glastonbury, CT   From: beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Purdy Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 9:01 AM To: kitprend...@gmail.com Cc: kimbe...@gmail.com; beemon...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?   I certainly agree. Earlier this year I heard a lecture from a dog handler in Alberta. He described using dogs to find individual seedlings in a project to eradicate an outbreak of an invasive plant species in a localized area of rough terrain. The effort was successful. This example was the most relevant of the many he presented. A promising opportunity with diverse applications. With proper training I think it could be non-destructive.   Regards John Purdy   On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 8:49 AM Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com<mailto:kitprendergast21@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear Kimberly, You are not alone ! I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. We now dogs are excellent at sniffing out all kinds of things (even koalas with chlamydia in Australia !). Finding ground nesting bee nests is at present a matter of dumb luck really and sniffer dogs could change that. It’s so desperately needed! In Aus the three species listed with extinction are all ground nesting but the nests have never been found .   I’ve been meaning to see if I can trial it in Aus as there’s a numbers of K9s for conservation orgs … funding is always the hurdle of course.   Congrats on your new puppy 🐶 too   Best, Kit   Dr Kit Prendergast Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology) Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni   Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette   ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099 Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette 'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/ Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent Insta: @bee.babette_performer: https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en     On Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 8:46 am, Kimberly N. Russell <kimbe...@gmail.com<mailto:kimberlyrus@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi All,   I am a little embarrassed to be asking this question, but we are a friendly, non-judgemental group, yes?? Anyway, I have heard about bumblebee nest sniffing dogs (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m6d7mSRUeCQ) and was wondering if we think it might be possible to train a dog to find OTHER native bee nests in the ground. Seems like a significantly harder ask for non-social nesters. And not sure exactly how training would work. But if dogs can detect cancer cells in people, then maybe?   Why did I start thinking about this? Well, I got myself a new pup in December and as soon as we had a few days of spring weather, she became obsessed with the ground. Just stares and listens (she is half German Shepherd and half Husky, with giant pointy ears) as if she can sense the animals awakening in the soil. So it got me thinking. Plus, as many of you know, I have been doing some experiments to try to make supplemental habitats for ground nesting bees and could really use a good technique other than emergence traps to detect colonization. So maybe dogs? Cheaper and logistically easier than fancy imaging equipment (ha!).   Just curious about peoples thoughts on this. Happy St. Patricks Day! ;-)   Thanks, Kim ******************************* Dr. Kimberly N. Russell (she/her/hers)   Undergraduate Program Director Associate Professor of Teaching Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources Rutgers University, New Brunswick   Office: 124 ENR Building Phone: 848 932 9383 e-mail: kimberly...@rutgers.edu<mailto:kimberly.russell@rutgers.edu> web: https://knrussellbeeteam.com<https://knrussellbeeteam.com/> https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me<https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me/> *******************************   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com<mailto:beemonitoring%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/126E8DBA-B9B2-4EE3-A5FA-BAB0F57B1DB0%40gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. 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Douglas Yanega <dya...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 09:55AM -0700 There is a lot of work developing electronic sensors that can do what dog noses do.   The paper I though was memorable along these lines is one that determined that by mimicking the structure of a dog nose, and how they inhale, the efficacy of the sensors can be improved:   Staymates, M., MacCrehan, W., Staymates, J./et al./Biomimetic Sniffing Improves the Detection Performance of a 3D Printed Nose of a Dog and a Commercial Trace Vapor Detector./Sci Rep/*6*, 36876 (2016)   https://www.nature.com/articles/srep36876   It's not every day you see scientific papers referring to 3D printed dog noses, that one stuck in my mind.   Slight goofiness aside, it seems to me that if they can develop electronic sensors that can detect trace vapors of specific chemicals, this is more generally useful than using a live animal, since a sensor doesn't need to be trained over a period of time, maintained, or get tired, hungry, or distracted - and switching from one chemical to another is no problem, so the utility is far broader. I would be surprised if this hasn't been used (or attempted) yet for hunting truffles, given the significant commercial incentive.   Humans aren't the only ones whose jobs are threatened by "robots".   Peace,   -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 phone: 951-827-4315 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

Ron Miksha <mik...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 05:40PM I had a nice, very informal, chat with a dog trainer here in Calgary. You can hear it on my podcast (About Bees Culture, and Curiosity<http://I%20had%20a%20nice,%20very%20informal,%20chat%20with%20a%20dog%20trainer%20here%20in%20Calgary.%20You%20can%20hear%20it%20on%20my%20podcast%20(About%20Bees%20Culture,%20and%20Curiosity).%20Rose-Anne%20Bouffard%20works%20for%20the%20Suzuki%20Foundation%20and%20trains%20search%20dogs%20in%20her%20spare%20time.%20The%20podcast%20won’t%20answer%20all%20the%20questions%20that%20have%20been%20presented%20in%20this%20chat%20group%20but%20will%20give%20a%20glimpse%20into%20the%20life%20of%20a%20person%20passionate%20about%20training%20dogs%20to%20find%20honey%20bee%20diseases%20and%20nesting%20bumble%20bees.%20The%20bottom%20line%20is%20that%20the%20work%20is%20hard,%20expensive%20(in%20time%20and%20resources),%20and%20not%20always%20successful.%20About%20Bees%20–%20podcast%20with%20Rose%20https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dogs-that-smell-bees/id1760959092?i=1000669704213>). Rose-Anne Bouffard works for the Suzuki Foundation and trains search dogs in her spare time. The podcast won’t answer all the questions that have been presented in this chat group, but it will give a glimpse into the life of a person passionate about training dogs to find honey bee diseases and nesting bumble bees. The bottom line is that the work is hard, expensive (in time and resources), and not always successful. About Bees – podcast with Rose https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dogs-that-smell-bees/id1760959092?i=1000669704213   ________________________________ From: 'Roulston, T'ai H (thr8z)' via beemonitoring <beemon...@googlegroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 10:32 AM To: mslu...@gmail.com <mslu...@gmail.com> Cc: johnr...@gmail.com <johnr...@gmail.com>; kitprend...@gmail.com <kitprend...@gmail.com>; kimbe...@gmail.com <kimbe...@gmail.com>; beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com>; Melissa McCue-McGrath <mmc...@gmail.com>; Zarrillo, Tracy <Tracy.Z...@ct.gov> Subject: Re: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?   I would love to see this work and I’ve seen lots of popular press articles full of optimism and anecdotes about it. The only two papers I’ve seen on this have not left me optimistic (both from the Goulson lab, one positive about dogs, the other not so much —see refs below).     O’Connor, S., Park, K. J., & Goulson, D. (2012). Humans versus dogs; A comparison of methods for the detection of bumble bee nests. Journal of Apicultural Research, 51(2), 204–211. https://doi.org/10.3896/IBRA.1.51.2.09   Waters, J., O’Connor, S., Park, K. J., & Goulson, D. (2011). Testing a detection dog to locate bumblebee colonies and estimate nest density. Apidologie, 42(2), 200–205. https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010056   I saw a presentation about it last year in which I was able to do some back of envelope calculations and they didn’t seem to support less effort per nest than I’ve had with human searches.   Pugesek (2021) still seems to be the human search results that give me the most optimism for being able to really find nests at a local scale when searching, but lots of effort per nest there too (Pugesek, G., & Crone, E. E. (2021). Contrasting effects of land cover on nesting habitat use and reproductive output for bumble bees. Ecosphere, 12(7). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3642)   If dog finding of nests is getting as efficient as it sounds in concept, it would be great to have some more data on dog versus human comparisons in the same habitat to make me optimistic about this once again.   T'ai       On Mar 18, 2026, at 12:04 PM, mslu...@gmail.com wrote:   Hello!   I am responding as an ecologically-focused CT gardener (undergrad biology degree, PhD in science field so understand the rigors of research) with a dog trained for several years in scent-work. We (and other human-canine scent-trained pairs) have been looking for ways in which we might apply our interest in scent-work to ‘real-world’ issues – including the ID of plants/insects/other-related issues of interest.   I’d like to encourage you to explore the development of working-relationships with both professional groups and pet-dog owners.   In the US, there has been work done at Virginia Tech on using ‘citizen-scientist’-dogs to identify invasives (Spotted Lantern Fly, grapevine fungal disease): https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/05/cals-spotted-lanternfly-dog-study.html   Melissa McCue McGrath (cc’ed on this email) is a dog trainer in Maine who has worked with training dogs to identify the Spotted Lantern Fly. Below (italics): an excerpt from an email where she describes a study in teaching pet dogs to find SLF:   We were able to teach 5 out of my 6 charges to find SLF in the woods using standard nosework and scentwork procedures. Pairing an odor (could be birch oil, could be vanilla from your cabinet, could be freeze killed larva from SLF!) with a highly motivating reinforcer (our dogs used cheese, though toys and other reinforcers) were used across the nation in the study.   The complication is finding SLF eggs that won't hatch that will go on to attract the black mold that kills nearly every crop it lays eggs on. Freeze killing the eggs and putting them in metal mesh was what we ended up getting from the scientists who ran the study.   This won't work for every invasive. We will not be able to do this for brown tailed moth or other venomous creatures that might have barbs in their hair/fur to harm dog's noses, or are toxic in other ways. The dogs cannot do this for every invasive or problem, but it appears through the research, pet dogs WERE able to find SLF with over 80% accuracy! Which...is amazing!   https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/spotted-lantern-fly-work/ has most of the news articles and the videos of library talks I've given on these dogs. There are podcasts in there (link here to podcasts, mostly about SLF https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/podcasts/) if listening is easier!   I think the best way to go if you are serious about this work is maybe reaching out to the K9 Conservation folk https://k9conservationists.org/conservation-canines-isabelle-groc/ as they do the real work day to day, including getting dogs field fit for this work, or Science Dogs of Maine https://www.sciencedogsne.com<https://www.sciencedogsne.com/> who also do the same thing.   So: as you consider the possibility of involving dogs in research, please consider also the possibility of involving citizen-scientist volunteers and their scent-trained dogs.   Kind Regards,   Mary Lung’aho Glastonbury, CT   From: beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Purdy Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 9:01 AM To: kitprend...@gmail.com Cc: kimbe...@gmail.com; beemon...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?   I certainly agree. Earlier this year I heard a lecture from a dog handler in Alberta. He described using dogs to find individual seedlings in a project to eradicate an outbreak of an invasive plant species in a localized area of rough terrain. The effort was successful. This example was the most relevant of the many he presented. A promising opportunity with diverse applications. With proper training I think it could be non-destructive.   Regards John Purdy   On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 8:49 AM Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com<mailto:kitprendergast21@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear Kimberly, You are not alone ! I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. We now dogs are excellent at sniffing out all kinds of things (even koalas with chlamydia in Australia !). Finding ground nesting bee nests is at present a matter of dumb luck really and sniffer dogs could change that. It’s so desperately needed! In Aus the three species listed with extinction are all ground nesting but the nests have never been found .   I’ve been meaning to see if I can trial it in Aus as there’s a numbers of K9s for conservation orgs … funding is always the hurdle of course.   Congrats on your new puppy 🐶 too   Best, Kit   Dr Kit Prendergast Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology) Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni   Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette   ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099 Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette 'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/ Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent Insta: @bee.babette_performer: https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en     On Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 8:46 am, Kimberly N. Russell <kimbe...@gmail.com<mailto:kimberlyrus@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi All,   I am a little embarrassed to be asking this question, but we are a friendly, non-judgemental group, yes?? Anyway, I have heard about bumblebee nest sniffing dogs (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m6d7mSRUeCQ) and was wondering if we think it might be possible to train a dog to find OTHER native bee nests in the ground. Seems like a significantly harder ask for non-social nesters. And not sure exactly how training would work. But if dogs can detect cancer cells in people, then maybe?   Why did I start thinking about this? Well, I got myself a new pup in December and as soon as we had a few days of spring weather, she became obsessed with the ground. Just stares and listens (she is half German Shepherd and half Husky, with giant pointy ears) as if she can sense the animals awakening in the soil. So it got me thinking. Plus, as many of you know, I have been doing some experiments to try to make supplemental habitats for ground nesting bees and could really use a good technique other than emergence traps to detect colonization. So maybe dogs? Cheaper and logistically easier than fancy imaging equipment (ha!).   Just curious about peoples thoughts on this. Happy St. Patricks Day! ;-)   Thanks, Kim ******************************* Dr. Kimberly N. Russell (she/her/hers)   Undergraduate Program Director Associate Professor of Teaching Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources Rutgers University, New Brunswick   Office: 124 ENR Building Phone: 848 932 9383 e-mail: kimberly...@rutgers.edu<mailto:kimberly.russell@rutgers.edu> web: https://knrussellbeeteam.com<https://knrussellbeeteam.com/> https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me<https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me/> *******************************   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com<mailto:beemonitoring%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/126E8DBA-B9B2-4EE3-A5FA-BAB0F57B1DB0%40gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. 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Ron Miksha <mik...@gmail.com>: Mar 18 05:52PM Hello, ... and sorry! I tried to post to this group, but somehow managed to mangle it pretty badly. Forgive me for trying again.   I had a nice, very informal, chat with a dog trainer here in Calgary. You can hear it on my podcast (About Bees Culture, and Curiosity). Rose-Anne Bouffard works for the Suzuki Foundation and trains search dogs in her spare time. The podcast won’t answer all the questions that have been presented in this chat group but will give a glimpse into the life of a person passionate about training dogs to find honey bee diseases and nesting bumble bees. The bottom line is that the work is hard, expensive (in time and resources), and not always successful. About Bees – podcast with Rose https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dogs-that-smell-bees/id1760959092?i=1000669704213   Ron Miksha Calgary   ________________________________ From: beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of mslu...@gmail.com <mslu...@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 10:04 AM To: johnr...@gmail.com <johnr...@gmail.com>; kitprend...@gmail.com <kitprend...@gmail.com> Cc: kimbe...@gmail.com <kimbe...@gmail.com>; beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com>; 'Melissa McCue-McGrath' <mmc...@gmail.com>; 'Zarrillo, Tracy' <Tracy.Z...@ct.gov> Subject: RE: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?     Hello!       I am responding as an ecologically-focused CT gardener (undergrad biology degree, PhD in science field so understand the rigors of research) with a dog trained for several years in scent-work. We (and other human-canine scent-trained pairs) have been looking for ways in which we might apply our interest in scent-work to ‘real-world’ issues – including the ID of plants/insects/other-related issues of interest.       I’d like to encourage you to explore the development of working-relationships with both professional groups and pet-dog owners.       In the US, there has been work done at Virginia Tech on using ‘citizen-scientist’-dogs to identify invasives (Spotted Lantern Fly, grapevine fungal disease): https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/05/cals-spotted-lanternfly-dog-study.html       Melissa McCue McGrath (cc’ed on this email) is a dog trainer in Maine who has worked with training dogs to identify the Spotted Lantern Fly. Below (italics): an excerpt from an email where she describes a study in teaching pet dogs to find SLF:       We were able to teach 5 out of my 6 charges to find SLF in the woods using standard nosework and scentwork procedures. Pairing an odor (could be birch oil, could be vanilla from your cabinet, could be freeze killed larva from SLF!) with a highly motivating reinforcer (our dogs used cheese, though toys and other reinforcers) were used across the nation in the study.       The complication is finding SLF eggs that won't hatch that will go on to attract the black mold that kills nearly every crop it lays eggs on. Freeze killing the eggs and putting them in metal mesh was what we ended up getting from the scientists who ran the study.       This won't work for every invasive. We will not be able to do this for brown tailed moth or other venomous creatures that might have barbs in their hair/fur to harm dog's noses, or are toxic in other ways. The dogs cannot do this for every invasive or problem, but it appears through the research, pet dogs WERE able to find SLF with over 80% accuracy! Which...is amazing!       https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/spotted-lantern-fly-work/ has most of the news articles and the videos of library talks I've given on these dogs. There are podcasts in there (link here to podcasts, mostly about SLF https://melissamccuemcgrath.com/podcasts/) if listening is easier!       I think the best way to go if you are serious about this work is maybe reaching out to the K9 Conservation folk https://k9conservationists.org/conservation-canines-isabelle-groc/ as they do the real work day to day, including getting dogs field fit for this work, or Science Dogs of Maine https://www.sciencedogsne.com who also do the same thing.       So: as you consider the possibility of involving dogs in research, please consider also the possibility of involving citizen-scientist volunteers and their scent-trained dogs.       Kind Regards,       Mary Lung’aho   Glastonbury, CT       From: beemon...@googlegroups.com <beemon...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Purdy Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 9:01 AM To: kitprend...@gmail.com Cc: kimbe...@gmail.com; beemon...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [Beemonitoring] Bee nest sniffing dogs?       I certainly agree. Earlier this year I heard a lecture from a dog handler in Alberta.   He described using dogs to find individual seedlings in a project to eradicate an outbreak of an invasive plant species in a localized area of rough terrain. The effort was successful. This example was the most relevant of the many he presented. A promising opportunity with diverse applications. With proper training I think it could be non-destructive.       Regards   John Purdy       On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 8:49 AM Kit Prendergast <kitprend...@gmail.com<mailto:kitprendergast21@gmail.com>> wrote:   Dear Kimberly,   You are not alone ! I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. We now dogs are excellent at sniffing out all kinds of things (even koalas with chlamydia in Australia !). Finding ground nesting bee nests is at present a matter of dumb luck really and sniffer dogs could change that. It’s so desperately needed! In Aus the three species listed with extinction are all ground nesting but the nests have never been found .       I’ve been meaning to see if I can trial it in Aus as there’s a numbers of K9s for conservation orgs … funding is always the hurdle of course.       Congrats on your new puppy 🐶 too       Best,   Kit     Dr Kit Prendergast   Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist   University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology)   Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni       Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette       ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099   Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research   YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette   'Creating a Haven for Native Bees': https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/   Wild Bee artwork: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent   Insta: @bee.babette_performer:   https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en           On Wed, 18 Mar 2026 at 8:46 am, Kimberly N. Russell <kimbe...@gmail.com<mailto:kimberlyrus@gmail.com>> wrote:   Hi All,   I am a little embarrassed to be asking this question, but we are a friendly, non-judgemental group, yes?? Anyway, I have heard about bumblebee nest sniffing dogs (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m6d7mSRUeCQ) and was wondering if we think it might be possible to train a dog to find OTHER native bee nests in the ground. Seems like a significantly harder ask for non-social nesters. And not sure exactly how training would work. But if dogs can detect cancer cells in people, then maybe?   Why did I start thinking about this? Well, I got myself a new pup in December and as soon as we had a few days of spring weather, she became obsessed with the ground. Just stares and listens (she is half German Shepherd and half Husky, with giant pointy ears) as if she can sense the animals awakening in the soil. So it got me thinking. Plus, as many of you know, I have been doing some experiments to try to make supplemental habitats for ground nesting bees and could really use a good technique other than emergence traps to detect colonization. So maybe dogs? Cheaper and logistically easier than fancy imaging equipment (ha!).   Just curious about peoples thoughts on this. Happy St. Patricks Day! ;-)   Thanks, Kim ******************************* Dr. Kimberly N. Russell (she/her/hers)   Undergraduate Program Director Associate Professor of Teaching Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources Rutgers University, New Brunswick   Office: 124 ENR Building Phone: 848 932 9383 e-mail: kimberly...@rutgers.edu<mailto:kimberly.russell@rutgers.edu> web: https://knrussellbeeteam.com https://krussell-rutgersuniversity.youcanbook.me *******************************   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com<mailto:beemonitoring%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/126E8DBA-B9B2-4EE3-A5FA-BAB0F57B1DB0%40gmail.com.   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com<mailto:beemonitoring+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/CAN2D7pFvWCp4Vg2KLsAQLLroMdwR82ry_3B4N4u-gV6yJ4pYLA%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/CAN2D7pFvWCp4Vg2KLsAQLLroMdwR82ry_3B4N4u-gV6yJ4pYLA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group. 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