Field Guide to the Common Bees of California

by Gretchen LeBuhn

This engaging and easy-to-use natural history guidebook provides a thorough overview of native and honey bee biology and offers tools for identifying the most common bees of California and the Western United States. Full-color illustrations introduce readers to more than 30 genera of native bees, noting each one's needs and habits and placing them in their wider context. The author highlights bees ties to our own lives, the food we eat, and the habitat we provide, and suggests ways to support bees in our own backyards.
In addition to helping readers understand and distinguish among major groups of bees, this guide reveals how bees are an essential part of healthy ecosystem and how many plants, including important crop plants, depend on the pollination they provide. As growing evidence points to declining bee populations, this book offers critical information about the bond between plants and pollinators, and between humans and nature. Thoroughly researched and full of new insights into the ancient process of pollination, " Field Guide to the Common Bees of California; Including Bees of the Western United States" is invaluable for the window it opens onto the biodiversity, adaptive range, and complexity of invertebrate communities.
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Genres: Guidebook

190 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its always exciting to read about bees. I have so much to learn. I like the books small size. My favorite thing about Field guide to common bees of California is the illustrations of the bees. The bees look so great. So adorable I hope I get to see a lot of the different different types of bees in the wild.

I also reading the first part of the book called an introduction to bees. I only wish I could remember all the information I read. I try my best. I think it was wroth the time it took me to read it.

[Dewayne Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot and the illustrations are great

[Sam Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly good guide, with good basic information about bees, but as with so many of the entries in UC Press's field guide series, it's not well organized and no competent editor has stepped in to improve LeBuhn's prose. To give a simple example, bee morphology is explained by text and illustrations, but the parts of the bee's anatomy are not described with sufficient precision, special terms apper without any explanation, and some of the anatomical features mentioned in the text are not labeled in the illustrations.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, but could be more so. Too few species illustrated, and no multi-species plates for easy comparison. As another reviewer pointed out, better editing would have improved the book as well.

[Mills College Library]

595.799 L454 2013