Posted: October 5, 2020
Greetings, once again, from the Beescape Team! This is another entry in our monthly updates from us here at Beescape!
First up this month, just in time for October, a new study from the researchers at Penn State (Insect Biodiversity Center) provides the first assessment of the habitat needs for night-singing insects like crickets and katydids. These insects sing across the U.S., predominantly at night time (spooky!) and, according to the study, can be identified to species based on song patterns! This is important because, like bees, crickets and katydids are a very sensitive group of insects and are thought to be on the decline, worldwide! Have you been hearing crickets and katydids near you this fall?
Next, Here at the Beescape Team, we are constantly aiming to improve the tools we provide for beekeepers and bee conservationists. This spring, we launched the BeeWinterWise tool to help beekeepers better assess the weather impacts (especially temperature) on the 'landscape quality' at focal apiaries. Although this tool is currently only available for Pennsylvania, we hope to eventually expand beyond PA and develop this and similar tools for other states. To this end, we are wondering how our Pennsylvania participants like the tool! If you could spare two minutes of time, please provide feedback on the Pennsylvania BeeWinterWise tool!
Finally, please remember to fill out your Fall/Spring Beescape survival survey from 2019/2020 if you have not already done so! By contributing fall (and spring) survival data through Beescape, the Beescape Team can better predict the landscape factors (including weather and climate) associated with metrics of bee health like overwinter survival and the timing of nectar flows! We need BOTH Fall and Spring surveys for each apiary to make use of the data -- one without the other cannot be added to our models. We are excited to use your data to make better tools (like BeeWinterWise) to predict honey bee health dynamics!
As always, feel free to contact us at beescapepsu@gmail.com with any questions, comments or concerns -- including assistance with filling out your Beescape surveys. We always love hearing from you.
Sincerely,
The Beescape Team
