USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab's macro insect photography
September 19, 2013 8:00 PM   Subscribe

The USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program designs and develops large and small-scale surveys and identification tools for native bees. A vital aspect of the program is to create accurate and detailed pictures of native bees as well as the plants and insects they interact with. To that end, Sam Droege has curated a collection of more than 1,200 macro photos of insects and posted them to the USGS NBIaMP Flickr collection. You can also browse via sets, if the unfiltered collection is too much to take in at once. This group has also provided a guide to taking macro photographs of insects in a lab setting (PDF).
posted by filthy light thief (11 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you dig around on the USGS FTP, you can find a ton of other interesting information on bees and associated insects, including an MP3 of pronunciations of bee genera, from Sam Droege.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:05 PM on September 19, 2013


The man you want is Frank "Bring Em Back On Pins" Parker, knower of all native bees.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:08 PM on September 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Isn't there some viral bee disease going around that is killing off huge populations?

I recall reading something about that...but can't find it now.

(same thing with bat populations, btw)
posted by CrowGoat at 8:24 PM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


You might be thinking of colony collapse disorder, and it seems to be, from my reading, brought about from various combined issues.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:28 PM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


BEES!

Jesting aside, the USGS web site has all kinds of awesome information and I encourage you all to sniff around. I regularly check the global earthquake map (useful, considering where I live).
posted by orrnyereg at 8:51 PM on September 19, 2013


>i

You are carrying:
Bees
Bees
Bees
Bees
Oh god the BEES
posted by JHarris at 9:04 PM on September 19, 2013


Your tax dollars at (awesome) work.

The USDA pomological watercolors are very awesome, too.
posted by notyou at 9:06 PM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


Good to see there are still some bees left in the world. Over here in Europe, the EU wanted to ban an insecticide (or whatever they spray in stuff) because it kills bees, but the UK voted against it after lobbying from the companies who make the stuff.
posted by marienbad at 3:15 AM on September 20, 2013


The wiki article about colony collapse disorder seems like a good overview, and the neonicotinoids one has a current summary of the European and N. American regulatory situations.
posted by sneebler at 4:43 AM on September 20, 2013


Your tax dollars at (awesome) work.

Indeed! I'm surprised at how many things fall under the broad umbrella of the U.S. Geologic Survey's purview.

The USDA pomological watercolors are very awesome, too.

Ooh, nice, thanks!
posted by filthy light thief at 7:12 AM on September 20, 2013


On NPR: Beauty is in the Eye of the Bee-Holder
posted by Going To Maine at 3:11 PM on September 23, 2013


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