Buchmann is an adjunct professor in the Department of Entomology, and a Research Associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He advises UA, ASU and NAU master’s and doctoral students in the areas of native bee biology, bee and wildflower conservation, and pollination ecology. Buchmann was formerly a Research Entomologist with the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center (1979-2000). He was president and owner of the environmental consulting company The Bee Works (2000-2008). Buchmann served on the National Academies of Science panel that co-wrote the 2007 National Research Council book: Status of Pollinators in North America.
Currently, he is a Research Associate with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum where he also teaches classes on flatbed scanning and photography in their Art Institute. Buchmann is Scientist-At-Large for the pollinator conservation organization The Pollinator Partnership, and one of its founding members. Buchmann is a former Counselor (2002-2005) for the invertebrate conservation organization the Xerces Society.
Stephen Buchmann has a B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences from California State University at Fullerton. He has an earned doctorate in Entomology from the University of California at Davis. Buchmann researches the global syndrome of “Buzz Pollination in Angiosperms” including bee behavior, anther morphology and co-developed a mathematical biophysical model for pollen expulsion in flowers with pored anthers.
Research Interests:
Buzz pollination in flowering plants, both botanical and entomological aspects are still his primary research topic and passion. Also: nesting, foraging and mating biology of native bees and honey bees. Competition between honey bees and native AZ bees. Pollen-trapping from honey bee colonies and pollen diet breadth of all bees. Electronic scale honey bee colonies (Tumamoc Hill), data logging, and IR sensors. Chemical ecology of floral rewards and bee exocrine secretions, pollination ecology and chemistry of elaiophore exudates.
Find out more about Steve’s bee and pollination research at Research Gate: http://www.researchgate.net, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Buchmann
Current Grants:
Dr. Buchmann currently is a co-PI on a three year National Science Foundation Grant (“Specialization by bumble bees and the evolution of nutritionally diverse floral rewards”, NSF award 1257762) on learning and foraging behavior in bumble bees. His co-PI’s and collaborators are Drs. Anne S. Leonard (Univ. NV, Reno) and Daniel R. Papaj and Wulfila Gronenberg (Univ. AZ, Tucson). Some of the early results of our collaborative research can be seen on the Papaj and Leonard websites http://www.eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/papaj/projects.htm and http://www.anneleonard.com.
Downloadable files:
Educational Outreach
Bee Basics by Beatriz Moisset and Stephen Buchmann