Stephen L. Buchmann

Stephen Lee Buchmann is an American pollination ecologist, melittologist, and evolutionary biologist. He is an adjunct professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Entomology at the University of Arizona.^[1]

Stephen Lee Buchmann
Born	United States, 1952
Nationality	American
Academic background
Education	B.A., Biological Sciences M.A., Biological Sciences Ph.D., Entomology
Alma mater	California State University, Fullerton University of California, Davis
Academic work
Institutions	University of Arizona, Tucson

Buchmann’s research interests include native bee intrafloral behavior, especially buzz pollination (including biophysics of poricidal Solanum anthers) and oil-collecting bees (e.g., Centris). He has also studied bee nesting and mating biology and has authored or co-authored more than 230 journal articles and 10 nonfiction trade books.^[2] He also holds filmography experience, working as a scientific consultant with many natural history film producers, including National Geographic and the BBC’s Natural History Unit.^[3] Additionally, he is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London.^[4][5]

Education

Buchmann received a Bachelor of Arts from California State University in 1974, studying biological science broadly, with a botany minor under C. E. Jones Jr. For his Master of Arts degree, also at CSUF, he studied buzz pollination (floral sonication) in two species of deadly nightshades. His doctoral research, a global study of buzz pollination, culminated in a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of California, Davis. Moreover, he has also been a Research Associate with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (where he teaches Art Institute classes) and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.^[5][6]

Career

Since 1979 Stephen Buchmann has been associated with several University of Arizona academic departments, notably the departments of Entomology and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He works as an adjunct professor and affiliate scientist at UA. From 1979 to 2000, he was a Research Entomologist with the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, AZ. He also co-founded Morpho, Inc., a binational software pattern recognition company. Moreover, between 2000 and 2008, he was founder and president of The Bee Works, an environmental consulting firm.^[7][5]

Buchmann served as a Counselor for the Xerces Society and was formerly Scientist-at-Large, and international coordinator, for the Pollinator Partnership, a nonprofit pollinator conservation organization based in San Francisco. Additionally, he was also the president and board member for the nonprofit Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute. He has also served as an outsider reviewer for many US federal granting agencies (NSF, NIH), NGO’s (e.g. National Geographic, Earthwatch Institute), and volunteered on the editorial board for several journals, e.g. Journal of Pollination Ecology (JPE).^[8][5]

Research

In his early research, Buchmann modeled buzz pollination, demonstrating how bee-induced vibrations energized pollen ejection from within poricidal anthers and combined biomechanics, plant morphology, and experiments to explain this specialized pollination mechanism.^[9] Buchmann’s research has explored a range of topics, from the biomechanics of buzz pollination to ecological restoration and bee-plant-microbe interactions.^[10][11]

Buchmann helped pioneer the study of microbial communities in bees, revealing beneficial bacteria and fungi in their digestive and reproductive systems.^[12][13][14] This research continues and has resulted in two recent papers that proposed a paradigm shift with microbes as silent third partners in bee-angiosperm mutualisms.^[15][16]

Buchmann’s 2000 paper studied how pollen protein content relates to pollination mode, pollinator behavior, and plant reproductive traits, suggesting that pollen protein content is more influenced by pollen tube growth than attracting pollinators.^[17] In 2007, he was an NAS co-author of a book titled Status of Pollinators in North America. The book discussed the importance of pollinators in ecosystems and agriculture, highlighting their decline, the lack of population data, and proposed research and conservation strategies for their restoration.^[18] His 1996 book The Forgotten Pollinators explored the vital relationship between pollinators and plants, highlighting the ecological and cultural impact of human actions on biodiversity, food security, and the extinction of species.^[19] In 2018, he explored the evolutionary origins of floral sonication in bees, its repeated evolution, and tested its role in bee diversification, highlighting its ecological impact on bee-plant coevolution.^[20] In 2015, Buchmann authored the book The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives. More recently in 2023, he authored the book What a Bee Knows : Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees. The book investigated the complex minds of bees, revealing their advanced navigation, memory, and communication skills, while challenging our understanding of intelligence, sentience and consciousness in non-human creatures.^[21]

Awards and honors

• 1980 – Fellow, Linnean Society of London^[5]
• 1997 – Benjamin Franklin Award for The Forgotten Pollinators^[5]
• 2010 – Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Young Adults for Letters from the Hive, National Science Teachers Association^[5]
• 2023 – Patronym: Anthophora (Anthophoroides) buchmanni Engel^[22]

Bibliography

Books

• Buchmann, Stephen L.; Nabhan, Gary Paul (1997). The Forgotten Pollinators. Island Press. ISBN 9781559633536.
• Shepherd, Matthew; Buchmann, Stephen L.; Vaughan, Mace; Black, Scott Hoffman (2003). Pollinator Conservation Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Protecting, and Providing Habitat for Native Pollinator Insects. The Xerces Society. ISBN 9780974447506.
• Chambers, Nina; Gray, Yajaira; Buchmann, Stephen L. (2004). Pollinators of the Sonoran Desert: A Field Guide (1st ed.). Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. ISBN 9781886679337.
• Buchmann, Stephen L.; Repplier, Banning (2006). Letters from the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind. Bantam Books. ISBN 9780553803754.
• National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America (2007). Status of Pollinators in North America. National Academies Press. ISBN 9780309102896.
• Buchmann, Stephen L.; Cohn, Diana (2012). The Bee Tree. Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 9781935955146.
• Buchmann, Stephen L. (2015). The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives. Scribner. ISBN 9781476755533.
• Buchmann, Stephen L. (2023). What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees. Island Press. ISBN 9781642831245.

Selected articles

• Buchmann, S. L.; Hurley, J. P. (1978). "A biophysical model for buzz pollination in angiosperms". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 72 (4): 639–657. Bibcode:1978JThBi..72..639B. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(78)90277-1. ISSN 0022-5193. PMID 672247.
• Buchmann, S. L. (1987). "The ecology of oil flowers and their bees". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 18 (1): 343–369. Bibcode:1987AnRES..18..343B. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.18.110187.002015. ISSN 0066-4162.
• Roulston, T. A. H.; Cane, J. H.; Buchmann, S. L. (2000). "What governs protein content of pollen: pollinator preferences, pollen–pistil interactions, or phylogeny?". Ecological Monographs. 70 (4): 617–643. doi:10.1890/0012-9615(2000)070[0617:WGPCOP]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0012-9615.
• Steffan, S. A.; Dharampal; Kuneman, J. G.; Keller, A.; Argueta-Guzman, M. P.; Mezera, C. C.; Amon, N.; Danforth, B. N. (2023). "Microbes, the "silent third partners" of bee-angiosperm mutualisms". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 39 (1): 65–77. Bibcode:2024TEcoE..39...65S. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2023.09.001. ISSN 0169-5347. PMID 37940503.
• Russell, A. L.; Buchmann, S. L.; Ascher, J. S.; Wang, Z.; Kriebel, R.; Jolles, D. D.; Orr, M. C.; Hughes, A. (2024). "Global patterns and drivers of buzzing bees and poricial plants". Current Biology. 34 (14): 3055–3063.e5. Bibcode:2024CBio...34.3055R. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.065. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 38925116.
• Buchmann, S. L.; Jankauski, M. (2024). "Buzz pollination: Bee bites and floral vibrations". Current Biology. 34 (18): R854 – R875. Bibcode:2024CBio...34.R864B. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.010. ISSN 0960-9822.

Filmography

• The Sonoran Desert: A Violent Eden (1997) – Part of “The Desert Speaks” series, produced by KUAT Television.^[6][5]
• Pollinators in Peril (2000) – Turner Original Productions, Hosted and narrated by Peter Fonda, produced by Rhett Turner, Red Sky Productions. Directed by Ann Prum, Coneflower Studio.^[6][5]
• Living with Bugs: Close Encounters (2003) – BBC, produced by Oxford Scientific Films.^[6][5]
• Life in the Undergrowth (2005) – BBC Natural History Unit series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.^[6][5]
• Honey for the Maya (2011) – YouTube film, produced and directed by Buchmann.^[5]
• Wings of Life (2013) – Disneynature feature film, narrated by Meryl Streep, produced and directed by Louie Schwartzberg.^[6][5]
• The Mating Game (2021) – BBC Natural History Unit production, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.^[6][5]
• Planet Insect (2024) – Three-episode series streaming on Curiosity Channel, produced by Steve Nicholls, Hooded Crow Pictures, Ltd.^[6][5]