December 4, 2019
American Association for the Advancement of Science fellows are honored for extraordinary achievements in advancing science
December 2, 2019
People often ask me "Which plants are best for pollinators?" There's no perfect answer, but I usually urge people to plant native perennials. But, is this right from the BBB (Birds, Butterflies, and Bees) point of view?
November 22, 2019
Recent visitors to The Arboretum at Penn State may have noticed a bright blue construction fence surrounding about 3 acres of open meadow between the botanic gardens and the College Heights neighborhood. The fence delineates the future site of the Pollinator and Bird Garden, which will increase the size of the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens by about 60%.
November 12, 2019
First for this month, we want to announce some current and upcoming changes to the Beescape site!
November 12, 2019
This November, beekeepers from across Pennsylvania traveled to State College to discuss the state of the industry, provide training to new beekeepers, and to learn about recent scientific advances in bee research.
November 7, 2019
A unique undertaking in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will shine a light on how solar farms can contribute to healthy ecosystems and boost pollinator populations.
October 29, 2019
A unique undertaking in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will shine a light on how solar farms can contribute to healthy ecosystems and boost pollinator populations.
October 25, 2019
Recently, bumble bees have been visiting libraries and museums around Pennsylvania. The bees have been helping families learn about the life sciences and how scientists study how bees and other animals live and are adapted to their environments.
October 1, 2019
With summer now behind us and autumn nectar flows drawing to close, your honey bees will likely spend less time foraging as the temperature continues to drop.
October 1, 2019
As the fall season approaches, we at Beescape hope you’ve all had a productive spring/summer
September 25, 2019
Christina Grozinger is the director of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State. She joined us to talk about the health of Pennsylvania's bee population, and how we can help.
September 19, 2019
You may have heard it said that just about every third bite of food you take was made possible by a bee. Bees are required in the production of everything from apples to zucchini, and even important cattle feeds such as alfalfa require bees for pollination.
September 19, 2019
No bees, no berries. For Bruce Hall, that’s the bottom line. “In our industry, we have a flower, and we want it to become a berry,” explained Hall, an agronomist for Jasper Wyman & Son. Better known as “Wyman’s of Maine,” purveyors of wild blueberries and other frozen fruits.
September 19, 2019
The oft-memed slogan “save the bees” has been all the buzz for several years now, but who is actually making an effort to save one of the planet’s most important insects?
September 9, 2019
Solar farms will provide energy and pollinator habitat
August 30, 2019
Insecticides kill insects. It should be no surprise, then, that in Brazil, which has seen a 27% increase in pesticide sales since last year, roughly 500 million honey bees were found dead in piles across four states in early spring. The country’s pesticide use has grown by 770% between 1990 to 2016, as reported by Bloomberg.
August 1, 2019
Penn State Extension and the Center for Pollinator Research hosted a two-day in-service meeting in July 2019 to train Extension Educators and Master Gardeners on the latest information about pollinator diversity, health, and management.
July 31, 2019
Creating pollinator-friendly landscapes again will be the focus of the Yard and Garden Area at Ag Progress Days, Aug. 13-15, but many other activities will be going on there, as well.
July 26, 2019
Dinner and dancing will highlight a Gala in the Gardens event from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the opening of The Arboretum at Penn State’s H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens.
July 24, 2019
The 2019 Authentic Plant Pollinator Landscape Research for Educators (APPL-RED) Workshop at Penn State attracted thirteen K-12 educators from across Pennsylvania and beyond (one educator is currently teaching in the Spangdahlem region in Germany). The workshop allowed educators to work closely with members of Penn State’s Center for Science and the Schools and Center for Pollinator Research.
July 17, 2019
Honey bees are critical for crop pollination in the United States. The US is the first global producer of almonds and blueberries, and both of these crops require large numbers of managed honey bee colonies to maximize yields.
July 17, 2019
Pennsylvania’s beekeepers can now get even closer to their six-legged friends. In April, Penn State University, with the help of Callowhill-based geospatial technology company Azavea, released a new tool called Beescape where keepers can get the buzz on their hives (sorry) with a “bee’s eye view” of their environment.
July 15, 2019
Pollinators such as honeybees, wild bees, and pollen wasps contribute to one-third of the world’s food-crop production. However, the health and abundance of pollinators has declined in recent decades due to a range of factors that include pests, pathogens, pesticides, and poor nutrition. Farmers use pesticides to treat pests that would otherwise damage our food. Patterns, or “domains,” of pesticide use and pesticide effects on pollinators are linked in a complex system through a third domain, pollinator pesticide exposure. This framework can provide insights into options for reducing risks to pollinators while also improving pest management strategies for crops, as illustrated through the example of apple production.
June 26, 2019
A roadmap for how to minimize pesticide risk to bees by Scott McArt
June 21, 2019
To help catalyze research and education in bee health, Dutch Gold Honey, based in Lancaster County, PA, endowed an Undergraduate Scholarship in Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences in 2010. This yearly award pairs students in the College of Agricultural Sciences with faculty mentors from the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research. The 2019 Dutch Gold Scholarship has been awarded to two students, Jacklyn Kiner and Matthew Poorman, whose projects seek to improve methods for bee management and public learning about bees.
June 20, 2019
Researchers have been working for well over a decade to enhance the health of pollinators and now beekeepers, citizen scientists, and anyone interested in pollinator health can join in using a new online tool, Beescape.
June 3, 2019
Varroa mites (Varroa destructor), are the most influential of all of the pests and diseases of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) today.
May 30, 2019
Amid the continuing decline of pollinators worldwide, U.S. lawmakers recently revived a perennially struggling bill that aims to save these helpful species. However, pollinator loss is more complicated than many headlines suggest. And curbing it, some scientists say, requires more than just stricter pesticide regulation—a major focus of the bill.
May 23, 2019
Within the past decade, beekeepers across the globe have observed massive declines in managed honey bee populations. Similar declines have been observed in populations of wild bees and other pollinators. Understanding what is driving these declines is a vital question for researchers, beekeepers, growers, and the public. Several factors are being investigated, including habitat loss, climate change, disease and pesticide use.
May 20, 2019
This is the 7th of eight short news articles written by students, during the professional development class, about each other's research.
