Without pollinators the world would be a pretty dull place -- no fruit, no vegetables, nothing to allow many flowering to reproduce.
That's why the recent mystery surrounding the apparent collapse of many bee populations has many scientists and farmers concerned. In the fall of 2006 a Pennsylvania bee keeper lost 391of 400 colonies in a span of one month. By the following spring almost a quarter of the bee keepers around North America reported similar losses. May Berenbaum, an entomologist with the University of Illinois, was dispatched to find answers as to why the pollinators were dying off. What she learned was troubling.
While scientists are sure that many pollinator species are in decline, outside of commercial bee hives, they are unable to quantify the losses. There simply was no baseline population data available. Without a baseline, calculating losses is impossible.
So, Berenbaum and her colleagues set up a cool little program through the University's Web site. It's called the Bee Spotter Program and it allows civilian groups -- anyone from backyard gardeners to school groups -- to become part of a critical scientific study. All that's needed is an Illinois address, a camera, and bees. In short, they want folks to send them pictures of bees.
To participate, volunteers are asked to set-up an account on the Bee Spotter site. When they photograph a bee, they are then asked to upload the picture to the site and enter the address of the location where the bee was spotted. If they feel confident they can try to identify their find using a chart on the site, but all identifications are verified by entomologists with the program.
So, if you are in Illinois and you're not a Bee Spotter, visit the site and think about signing up. If you're somewhere else, take a look as well. And if you spot some bees in your yard this year, take a moment to think of how beautiful their work makes our little planet.
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