GOING ON A BEE HUNT THAT HELPS THE PLANET
Baku, July 15 (AZERTAC). Volunteers equipped with nothing more than digital cameras are taking part in an unusual bee hunt, VOA reports.
It`s part of an environmental study that has amateur photographers documenting the impact of climate change, pollution and other factors on the interplay between plants and the creatures that pollinate them.
Bees pollinate $10 billion worth of fruits, nuts and a variety of row crops each year in the United States.
Yet recent declines in the population of these essential insects threaten the lucrative agricultural industry.
Sam Droege, a researcher at the US Geological Survey`s Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, is examining possible causes for the bee decline. Working with an online environmental encyclopedia called, "Discover Life," Droege has helped organize the Bee Hunt study.
Bee hunters across the United States take pictures of pollinators and the plants they pollinate, and then upload them to the "Discover Life" website. The online database keeps track of trends in pollinator populations that show the effects of climate change, pollution or invasive species.
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