Field research of bees and bee forage can be expensive, time-consuming, and of variable inclusiveness around the state.  Fortunately, a project on iNaturalist looks to collect information from citizen scientists about bee/plant interactions and store the data so it can be used for scientific research.

The project is called “Pollinator Interactions on Plants (PIP) of the NE US.”

MEBW is not involved in project management: That honor belongs to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

MEBW is deeply curious about what plants bees visit and when. We are also eager to understand to what extent honey bees visit/use plants known to be used by native bee specialists (native bees that have evolved to gather nectar or pollen from one plant while providing pollination services to that plant). Your observations could help us uncover these mysteries.

More information about iNaturalist is available here.

More information about the project “Pollinator Interactions on Plants (PIP) of the NE US.” Is available here.

Two articles that appeared in the June/July 2024 MSBA’s Bee Line newsletter about iNaturalist and the project are available here.

We invite you to share your observations of honey and native bees on iNaturalist and the “Pollinator Interactions on Plants (PIP) of the NE US” project. Your contributions are crucial to this research.