Maxwell, NM

Position Title: Great Plains Pollinator Internship

Organization: Great Plains Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Location: Maxwell, NM

Organization Overview: The Great Plains Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office is one part of a network of field stations located throughout the nation that works to conserve fish and aquatic resources. Biologists from the Arctic Circle to the Florida Keys work to protect native species, restore imperiled species and their habitats, monitor and control invasive species , evaluate native fish stocks and their habitats, and make management recommendations to improve natural resources.

Position Overview: Have you heard the buzz? Pollinator communities are declining globally, with many of these declines resulting from changes in habitat quality and quantity, increased pesticide use, and climate change.  Loss of pollinators can have a number of far-reaching effects on both ecosystem function as well as local economies with as many as 85% of flowing plants requiring animal or insect pollination including a wide variety of important crops. As a result of these declines, pollinators have become a relatively high priority for research and management for many agencies and conservation groups. However, the effective conservation of these species is often limited by a lack of region-specific information about community composition and the factors that influence community dynamics.

The Southern Great Plains Ecoregion, historically, likely hosted a diverse assemblage of pollinators as a result of the extensive grasslands in the region. However, widespread conversion of grasslands to row crop agriculture and degradation of remaining grasslands resulting from intensive grazing, fire suppression, and increased herbicide usage has likely resulted in substantial losses in pollinators abundance and richness. Preliminary analysis of online databases of bee observations and datasets revealed a stark lack of information on bee communities in the Southern Great Plains Ecoregion. This is notable as this lack of information limits our ability to assess these historic losses in pollinator communities as well as limits our ability to understand the potential effects of new and ongoing threats to pollinators in the region.

Interns will be able to attend week long FWS internship training summit at our Regional Office location in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Interns will also be able to transport bees to identification sites and tour facilities. Specimen collection, museum specimen drying and pinning, internship training, it is possible that interns may receive UTV/ATV training and 4-wheel drive vehicle operation training if necessary for field site access. Shared refuge housing or similar will be made available to team members. Generally this will be a private bedroom, but other shared living spaces such as living rooms, kitchen/meal preparation areas, bathrooms, etc.

Duties:

• Learn about native bees and produce a baseline species list of species collected at each study site in summer 2024.
• Produce a georeferenced database of collected bees, with GPS coordinates and date of capture for each individual specimen, as well as host plant association, where applicable.
• Using the database described in Objective 2, produce a database of host plants and the pollinator species they support.
• Report all information collected in The Bee Tool so information can be shared broadly and publicly. 

Qualifications:

• U.S. Citizenship
• Non handicap accessible
• Vehicle will be needed to travel to town for provisions, personal needs, and recreation.

Start and End dates: March 4, 2024 – March 2, 2025

Pay: Living allowance: $400 per week
Relocation Travel Allowance: $1,100 one-time

How to apply: View the online application for more details as well as how to apply.