Save the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee

Aesthetic Value: Contributes beauty to the surrounding habitat.

Bequest Value: Value to ensure that peoples' offspring or future generations inherit a particular environmental asset.

Biodiversity: the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Biome: A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g., forest or tundra.

Biotic Potential: the ability of a population of living species to increase under ideal environmental conditions – sufficient food supply, no predators, and a lack of disease. An organism's rate of reproduction and the size of each litter are the primary determining factors for biotic potential

Bumblebee: A large hairy bee with a loud hum, living in small colonies in holes underground, which uses buzz pollination.

Buzz pollination: In which the bee grabs the pollen producing structure of the flower in her jaws and vibrates her wing musculature causing vibrations that dislodge pollen that would have otherwise remained trapped in the flower’s anthers. Some plants, including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries, require buzz pollination.

Carrying capacity:the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation.

Captive Breeding: The process of breeding animals outside of their natural environment in restricted conditions in farms, zoos or other closed facilities. The choice of individual animals that are to be part of a captive breeding population, and the mating partners within that population, are controlled by humans

Climate Change: A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

Co-evolved: The influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution.

Colony Collapse Disorder: A phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen.

Commercial Rearing: The breeding of a species for commercial use.

Disk flower: Any of the tiny tubular flowers in the central portion of the capitulum or flower head of certain plants of the composite family (Asteraceae or Compositae). In many composite flowers, such as the daisy and sunflower, the disk flowers are surrounded by flattened ray flowers.

Ecological Value: A species’ natural services and role in the ecosystem.

Ecosystem: A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Ecosystem Services: This grouped ecosystem services into four broad categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits.

Endangered Species: a species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction.

Endangered Species Act: The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 is a key legislation for both domestic and international conservation. The act aims to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.

Extinction: The state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct.

Forage: Grasses and other plants that are eaten by animals

Foundation Species: A species that has a strong role in structuring a community.

Fragments-  A broken off piece from an object

Fungi: Any of a group of unicellular, multicellular, or syncytial spore-producing organisms feeding on organic matter, including molds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools.

Gene flow: It is the transfer of alleles or genes from one population to another. Migration into or out of a population may be responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies (the proportion of members carrying a particular variant of a gene).

Generalist Species: A species that is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources (for example, a heterotroph with a varied diet).

Genetic diversity: The total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary.

Habitat Loss: The process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity.

Hand pollinate:  (also called "mechanical pollination") is a technique used when natural, or open pollination is insufficient or undesirable. To pollinate by hand usually with a camel's-hair brush

HIPPCO: Habitat destruction and fragmentation; Invasive species; Population growth and increasing use of resources; Pollution; Climate change; and Overexploitation.

Honeybee: A stinging winged insect that collects nectar and pollen, produces wax and honey, and lives in large communities. It was domesticated for its honey around the end of the Neolithic period and is usually kept in hives.

Instrumental Use Value: Species that benefits humans by providing essential services such as food, ecotourism, and genetic information.

Intrinsic Value: the value that an entity has in itself, for what it is, or as an end. Something has intrinsic value if it is valued for what it is, rather than for what it can bring about.

IUCN Red List- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.

Mites: A minute arachnid that has four pairs of legs when adult, related to the ticks. Many kinds live in the soil and a number are parasitic on plants or animals

Neonicotinoids: A specific type of pesticide

Niche: a position or role taken by a kind of organism within its community.

Parasites: An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.

Pesticides and Herbicides: a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals.

Phenology: The study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life.

Pollination:The carrying of pollen grains (the male sex cells in plants) to the femalesex cells for fertilization. Pollination can occur between plants when pollen is carried by the wind or by insects such as the honeybee, or within the same plant, in which case it is called self-fertilization.

Precautionary Principle: When substantial preliminary evidence indicates that an activity can harm human health or the environment, we should take precautionary measure to prevent or reduce such harm even if some of the cause-and-effect relationships have not been fully established scientifically.

Queen bee: the single reproductive female in a hive or colony of honeybees.

Range: A species range is the area where a particular species can be found during its lifetime. Species range includes areas where individuals or communities may migrate or hibernate. Every living species on the planet has its own unique geographic range.

Ray Flower: One of the narrow flowers, resembling single petals, that surround the central disk in the capitulum or flower cluster of a plant of the composite family (Asteraceae or Compositae), such as the daisy or sunflower.

Ripple Effect: A spreading, pervasive, and usually unintentional effect or influence.

R-strategist: The production of numerous small offspring followed by exponential population growth. They require short gestation periods, mature quickly (and thus require little or no parental care), and possess short life spans.

Urbanization: The process where an increasing percentage of a population lives in cities and suburbs. This process is often linked to industrialization and modernization, as large numbers of people leave farms to work and live in cities.tt

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: An agency of federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior which is dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats.

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: An organization dedicated to protecting and helping invertebrate species. Click here to visit their website.