He helped create large-scale permanent and seasonal public exhibits and pollinator gardens (USBG in Washington, DC. and pollinator gardens at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, ASDM in Tucson). For the past 5 years he has created high-resolution (up to 14,000 dpi) Creo flatbed scans of insects and plants, along with multi-focal “3D” images of insects and flowers obtained with a customized Leica Z6 microscope and hyperfocal software. Electronic image files are available for museum exhibitry, fund-raising and educational products. He is also working on documenting all genera and subgenera of southwestern native bees for the production of an illustrated field guide to SW bees. These scanned images are printed as fine art Giclee prints up to 40 inches wide on Epson 9600 and 4800 printers. New video and multimedia products on pollinators and their plants are in production. He is also the president of the board for the Drylands Institute, a 20 year old biodiversity and conservation publishing non-profit based in Tucson.

Dr. Buchmann earned his doctorate in Entomology (pollination ecology and botany minor) from the University of California at Davis, and is the author or co-author of 8 books and more than 175 scientific publications. In 1996, he authored “The Forgotten Pollinators” with Gary Paul Nabhan from Island Press. Other books include “Pollinator Conservation Handbook (2003) with the Xerces Society and “Pollinators of the Sonoran Desert” with ASDM in 2004. His latest book is “Letters from the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind” from Bantam Dell (2005). His first childrens book “The Bee Tree” about traditional Malaysian honey hunters was published in 2005 by Cinco Puntos Press. Steve is an adjunct professor of Entomology at the University of Arizona, and holds research associate joint appointments with ASDM and the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. He was one of the founding NAPPC members and serves on its executive steering committee, and co-chairs the Research committee. He has been active in formulating international laws (Sao Paulo Declaration) protecting pollinators. Steve served on the National Academy of Sciences NRC ad hoc committee investigating pollinator status in North America. His research interests include native bee behavior, conservation biology and pollination, especially buzz pollination. Steve is currently working with Mayan beekeepers to promote meliponiculture in Quintana Roo, MX, and with the Pankarare culture in Bahia, Brazil. He is producing a documentary about Yucatan stingless bees and Mayan beecraft. He is the chief scientific consultant for the upcoming Disneynature theatrical widescreen film “Naked Beauty: the love story that feeds the earth” about pollinators around the globe and threats to pollination. This large screen HD movie will be first be shown across European theaters during 2010 and then in USA during early 2011.