K-State professor creates app to track bees locally, internationally

MANHATTAN (KSNT) – A local university professor created an app for anyone to track a declining species.

For years, the bee population has been on the decline across the country. But now, one Kansas State University professor is providing a chance for the community to be involved in their conservation.

“It’s really hard to identify bees,” Brian Spiesman, Kansas State University’s assistant professor in the Department of Entomology said. “We have over 400 different bee species in Kansas, 4,000 in North America, 20,000 worldwide.”

Some of the species, including the American bumblebee, are endangered. This year, Spiesman created an app called Bee Machine to help researchers and the public keep track of bees.

“We have 20,000 other species around the world that are really in need of more thorough research, so the app we hope will help us sample these bees across large areas that they occur in,” Spiesman said.

With the Bee machine app, you can take a picture of any bee you find and the app will identify the bee and give you information about that species.

“It’s great for citizen science,” Spiesman said. “So, we can get this app in the hands of people around the world basically and have them help us do our science for us.”

The app was released this year, and has already tracked bees in over 15 countries. Bees are an incredibly important part of our environment, and with populations declining, some in the community are doing their part to help save them. One local bee farm says many people could help keep them alive simply by paying attention to what garden sprays they use.

“We harvest the products out of beehives,” RemeBees owner Deon Toys said. “The honey, the propolis, the bees wax. If the community could be more aware and have alternatives to spraying things instead of just spraying poison because the bees go on the blooms to get the nectar to make honey.”

This app is currently available on Apple and Android devices. Spiesman says the goal is for researchers to keep tabs on as many species as they can, but also for the public to learn more about these busy bees.