Good morning all.  Recently we talked a little on the list about the merits
of "citizen science".  Another recent thread asked for solid information
about the actual current condition of various pollinator species, rather
than going with the prevailing presumption that all pollinators are
declining.  I saw an article in the BBC last night that addresses both
topics - a national survey of UK pollinator species getting underway,
courtesy of a smartphone app which the public can use to not only take the
samples but submit the samples for tabulation:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27764163 

Ironically the article makes some of the same presumptions that pollinators
are in decline and that it's probably due to neonics.  But the project
itself seems to at least have potential for providing some good information.
I would be interested to know if anyone on this list knows about this
survey, the smartphone app being used to implement it, and/or if there has
been or will be a version of this survey for the North American continent.
This would seem to be a wonderful, potentially huge source of raw data for
folks to work from.  Unless there are flaws in this approach?
Kathryn Kerby
Frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html