This is our third year of collecting data with the WiBee app! Thank you to all of the growers and scouts who have participated so far! 

The WiBee, or Wisconsin Wild Bee, app was developed by the Gratton Lab in 2019 to answer grower’s questions about pollination from wild bees. Using the app, growers, scouts, and gardeners can conduct simple, short pollinator surveys during crop bloom to better understand which wild bees are pollinating their crops. Aggregated survey data is publicly available online at https://data-viz.it.wisc.edu/wibee/. 

Over the past 3 years of data collection, we have had 149 surveys conducted by cranberry growers and scouts. Surveys show that most cranberry bogs have bee hives nearby, so the majority of pollination is from honey bees. Bumble bees, small dark bees (which include carpenter and sweat bees, among others), and non-bees (like wasps or flies) also provide some pollination services. 

Data is skewed by the number of surveys done, so every survey helps! 

Tracking pollinator activity can help us understand which insects pollinate Wisconsin cranberries, and how we might support those communities. Download the WiBee app from the App Store or Google Play or visit www.pollinators.wisc.edu/wibee to learn more. 

Thank you and we look forward to seeing your surveys! 

This article was posted in Cranberry and tagged Cranberries, Eliza Pessereau, Pollination, pollinators, WiBee.