{"id":13112,"date":"2020-03-03T09:01:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=13112"},"modified":"2022-03-21T16:28:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:28:35","slug":"bumblebees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Hornets Helping Bumblebees Through Citizen Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser wants to know what it takes to preserve them in Michigan.<\/p>\n

\"Four
Trevor Rigney (from left), Niko Nickson, Amy Cazier and Nicki Bailey comprised Biology Professor Ann Fraser’s summer research group last year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To that end, Fraser and her Kalamazoo College lab students are launching the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch. The program will track bumblebee diversity, measure local restoration efforts and discover whether any species might be declining or recuperating in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cBumblebees are important pollinators, particularly of our spring plants,\u201d Fraser said, noting they\u2019re vital to common Michigan crops, and more important to pollination than honeybees. \u201cThey\u2019ll go out in cold weather, even when it\u2019s rainy. They\u2019re particularly good pollinators of fruit crops such as blueberries, apples and cherries.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the bee watch, citizen scientists in nine counties will volunteer as photographers nearly anywhere outdoors\u2014including natural areas, walking trails, backyards and roadsides\u2014and submit their photos to an online portal. Fraser, students and other scientists then will look at the photos, noting the black-and-yellow patterns on the bumblebees\u2019 backs. Those patterns will identify each species and help determine which might be maintaining their numbers, which might be declining and which might be making a comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, my hope is to build a strong volunteer base so that we can start building a thorough database of bumblebee species in the area,\u201d said Niko Nickson \u201921, the student most dedicated to the effort as it will develop into his senior individualized project<\/a> (SIP). \u201cI\u2019m also planning to analyze our data for relationships between species abundance and landscape differences. In the future, I would love to see the program continue to build, maybe inspiring more community science efforts across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser said she had been hoping to start a project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch for a few years, but never found the right student to lead it. Then, she met Nickson.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity science is fascinating because I see it as an opportunity to connect academia and its surrounding community,\u201d Nickson said. \u201cIn this way, it makes science approachable to all, regardless of educational level.\u201d<\/p>\n

His love of the outdoors also benefits the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think being outside is a great way to relieve stress and spend time in general,\u201d Nickson said. \u201cI see this program as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of our regional environment while also encouraging more community members to spend time outdoors. In this sense, community science gives volunteers an excuse to be outside, and who doesn\u2019t love a reason to get some sunlight?\u201d<\/p>\n

March 3 is World Wildlife Day. Its theme this year is \u201cSustaining all life on Earth,\u201d as it recognizes all wild animal and plant species as being key components of the world\u2019s biodiversity. Yet within the biosphere, bumblebees are struggling. In fact, according to NationalGeographic.com<\/a>, we are nearly 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee in any given area of North America than we were before 1974.<\/p>\n

\u201cInsects in general are in decline,\u201d Fraser said. \u201cThat\u2019s alarmingly well documented. Bumblebees are following this trend. At least half a dozen species of the 20 in Michigan are in decline. One of which, the rusty-patched bumblebee, was on the federal endangered species list as of 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

A project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch could play a role in reversing those trends. Those interested in volunteering can sign up for the project\u2019s mailing list and request more information at swmbees.kzoo.edu\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser wants to know what it takes to preserve them in Michigan. To that end, Fraser and her Kalamazoo College lab students are launching the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch. The program will track bumblebee diversity, measure local restoration efforts and discover whether any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":13119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,231],"tags":[52,39,38],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-13112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","category-students","tag-biology","tag-faculty","tag-students"],"yoast_head":"\r\nBumblebees: Citizen-Science Program to Record Their Numbers<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What\u2019s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser and her students want to know what it takes to preserve them.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Hornets Helping Bumblebees Through Citizen Science\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser and her students want to know what it takes to preserve them.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-03T13:01:43+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-21T20:28:35+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/03\/Four-students-researching-bumblebees-fb.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/\",\"name\":\"Bumblebees: Citizen-Science Program to Record Their Numbers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/bumblebees\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/03\/Four-students-researching-bumblebees-fb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-03T13:01:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-21T20:28:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166\"},\"description\":\"What\u2019s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? 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Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser wants to know what it takes to preserve them in Michigan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13116\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13116\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13116\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/03\/Four-students-researching-bumblebees.jpg\" alt=\"Four students researching bumblebees\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13116\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trevor Rigney (from left), Niko Nickson, Amy Cazier and Nicki Bailey comprised Biology Professor Ann Fraser’s summer research group last year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To that end, Fraser and her Kalamazoo College lab students are launching the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch. The program will track bumblebee diversity, measure local restoration efforts and discover whether any species might be declining or recuperating in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBumblebees are important pollinators, particularly of our spring plants,\u201d Fraser said, noting they\u2019re vital to common Michigan crops, and more important to pollination than honeybees. \u201cThey\u2019ll go out in cold weather, even when it\u2019s rainy. They\u2019re particularly good pollinators of fruit crops such as blueberries, apples and cherries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the bee watch, citizen scientists in nine counties will volunteer as photographers nearly anywhere outdoors\u2014including natural areas, walking trails, backyards and roadsides\u2014and submit their photos to an online portal. Fraser, students and other scientists then will look at the photos, noting the black-and-yellow patterns on the bumblebees\u2019 backs. Those patterns will identify each species and help determine which might be maintaining their numbers, which might be declining and which might be making a comeback.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year, my hope is to build a strong volunteer base so that we can start building a thorough database of bumblebee species in the area,\u201d said Niko Nickson \u201921, the student most dedicated to the effort as it will develop into his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/sip\/\">senior individualized project<\/a> (SIP). \u201cI\u2019m also planning to analyze our data for relationships between species abundance and landscape differences. In the future, I would love to see the program continue to build, maybe inspiring more community science efforts across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fraser said she had been hoping to start a project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch for a few years, but never found the right student to lead it. Then, she met Nickson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommunity science is fascinating because I see it as an opportunity to connect academia and its surrounding community,\u201d Nickson said. \u201cIn this way, it makes science approachable to all, regardless of educational level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His love of the outdoors also benefits the project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think being outside is a great way to relieve stress and spend time in general,\u201d Nickson said. \u201cI see this program as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of our regional environment while also encouraging more community members to spend time outdoors. In this sense, community science gives volunteers an excuse to be outside, and who doesn\u2019t love a reason to get some sunlight?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>March 3 is World Wildlife Day. Its theme this year is \u201cSustaining all life on Earth,\u201d as it recognizes all wild animal and plant species as being key components of the world\u2019s biodiversity. Yet within the biosphere, bumblebees are struggling. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/2020\/02\/bumblebees-going-extinct-climate-change-pesticides\/\">according to NationalGeographic.com<\/a>, we are nearly 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee in any given area of North America than we were before 1974.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInsects in general are in decline,\u201d Fraser said. \u201cThat\u2019s alarmingly well documented. Bumblebees are following this trend. At least half a dozen species of the 20 in Michigan are in decline. One of which, the rusty-patched bumblebee, was on the federal endangered species list as of 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch could play a role in reversing those trends. Those interested in volunteering can sign up for the project\u2019s mailing list and request more information at <a href=\"https:\/\/swmbees.kzoo.edu\/\">swmbees.kzoo.edu\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13112"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13121,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13112\/revisions\/13121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13112"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=13112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}