THE BEE BOX
The Power of Data
Herring is a type of fish that
forms aggregations, or schools
to avoid predation, allow better
hunting and possibly even gain
hydrodynamic benefits. Herring
are small but by massing in large
numbers, they gain advantages
from their sheer numbers that are
impossible to attain by themselves.
Data aggregation can be thought
of similarly. Collecting data
from honey bee colony health
is time consuming, fraught with
inconsistencies, and weather
dependent but when the collections
are collated and cleaned, trends
begin to emerge that lead to
further hypotheses. Sometimes the
trends are counterintuitive or beg
further investigations, but there is
no doubting the power of large
data sets in identifying issues,
correlations and interactions that
could not be otherwise discerned
by viewing each data set by itself.
One of the objectives of the Bee
Informed Partnership (BIP) is to
collect data from a wide variety
of sources, linking management
practices with colony losses and to
look for trends in field data so that
we can make predictive models.
These models will enable us to not
only alert the industry if there will
be a pollinator shortage but also to
detect trends that alert beekeepers
when their colony health is at risk.
For example, one powerful tool
available on our website (bip2.
beeinformed.org) is our Data
Explorer. Based on all years of our
BIP Management and Loss survey,
it dials in the management choices
beekeepers make and directly
links them to colony loss. Many
bee groups around the country are
using this as their jumping off point
of discussions. You can change the
year, the state, operational type,
etc. and see how treatments, feeds,
queen and comb management, etc.
all effect losses in your area.
IN YOUR ORCHARD
Below: Screen capture of the Bee Informed Partnership Data Explorer
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A L M O N D F A C T S
