Posted: November 12, 2019

First for this month, we want to announce some current and upcoming changes to the Beescape site!

We have been working hard to improve the value and usability of the Beescape platform. In particular, we have improved the map (with help from our friends at Azavea) so you can now type an address and Beescape will automatically ZOOM to that location for you! Stay tuned for more updates to come!

November is the start of the quiet season for most apiaries -- fall flows have ended and many days are too cold for bees to fly. Based on our analysis of winter survival data provided by the Pennsylvania State Beekeeper Association Survey, Varroa management and weather are the main factors influencing winter colony survival. With your data, we hope to refine these models so we can add tools on Beescape to predict winter survival in your specific location. To do that, however, we need more data! Please be sure to fill out the fall survey this November so we can have this information. In April we will ask you to fill out a spring survival survey! If you have questions about how to complete your November survey, do not hesitate to reach out to us at .

We are currently recruiting participants to take part in a web-based user study of the Beescape prototype! If this interests you, we'd love to have your help in shaping Beescape's future. In particular, we're evaluating what beekeepers really need in terms of web-based tools to help them understand how apiary health relates to landscapes. Visit www.tinyurl.com/BeescapePSU if you'd like and register your interest to participate. A $10 Amazon.com gift card is provided in exchange for your time in completing this study.

Finally, we would like to remind Beescape users that we have expanded into states beyond Pennsylvania! Our interactive map is now available for Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, New York, West Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin! The more users enter data for a given state, the better predictions we can provide overall! In fact, users can (and should!) enter data for any states where they maintain apiaries -- even if we currently do not have resource maps for those states!

As always, feel free to contact us at with any questions or concerns! Sincerely,

The Beescape Team