The yellow-faced bee forages and even nests in native plant species that may themselves be threatened.

There’s no place like home,” declared Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. But for Hawai‘i’s yellow-faced bees, artificial nest boxes—not necessarily home but a good facsimile— may be their best hope for survival. This is where Jason Graham comes in.

Dr. Graham, a post-doctoral researcher in the department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, is researching the native bees, seven species of which have just been placed on the endangered species list, for clues as to how to save them from extinction. Although they were first identified in the Islands a century ago, little is known about them, he explains. But while people weren’t studying the bees, they were nevertheless directly and indirectly impacting their environment—so severely that when researchers started looking for them a few years ago, they were shocked at how few remained.

Dr. Graham also researches hive-dwelling bees as well as the solitary Hylaeus.

The bees, Hylaeus sp., live and nest in coastal areas, often in holes in pieces of coral that have washed ashore or in the hollow stems of coastal plants. This habitat makes them especially vulnerable to climate change, since an increase in storm surge can decimate a population. They’re also outcompeted by introduced bee species and preyed upon by invasive ants, which eat their larvae—and because the bees are solitary, rather than hive dwelling, like honeybees, they hatch and rear many fewer offspring.

Dr. Graham is monitoring populations at Mokuleia, Kahuku, Sandy Beach, and along the Ka Iwi shoreline; another population at Ko Olina was wiped out by a rogue storm that washed their nests away. After analyzing their dwelling places, he’s created nest boxes that are inviting to the yellow-faced bees but inaccessible to ants and protected from the waves. Using these he’s hoping to reestablish bee colonies in places they’re disappearing from. He also envisions rearing the bees in captivity for later release into areas where they once were found.

Another important component of Dr. Graham’s work is raising awareness. His findings have been featured in an array of local and national publications, including National Geographic. He’s given presentations at the Hawai‘i Conservation Congress, the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium in Washington, D.C., and the World Conservation Congress held in Honolulu in 2016. He was instrumental in getting Hylaeus classified as endangered, the first bees to gain this protection. “It was crucial to get them on the list,” he points out. “But now we’re working to increase their abundance so they don’t have to be on it.”