Summer 2021
Sydney ran an experiment to compare the sugar roll to the alcohol wash for mite testing. She is both assessing the accuracy of the sugar roll as a mite test (an alcohol wash is the standard), and the idea that the sugar roll is more humane as it doesn't kill the bees tested.
Abby conducted an experiment tracking the drone shift between hives. Using different color paint pens to mark the drones, she was able to test if drones shift between hives, how frequently drones tend to shift, and if their shifting follows the same general patterns we see with worker bee shift between hives.
Summer 2020
Katerina Bailey (left) and Deidra Ressler (right)
Our apiary's sign
Our hives
The natural wetlands behind the apiary
Beginning June 1, 2020, summer research at Grove City College offers professors and several of their students an opportunity to continue working on projects started throughout the year. For our research team, this includes finally working hands-on with our bees! Dr. Farone donated bees from her own hives, and our work this summer will include helping the bees thrive in their new environment at the college. Currently, Katerina Bailey and Deidra Ressler are living on campus, and they are each helping in the apiary, along with working on individual research projects. The summer research session will continue through the end of July, and work will continue upon students' return to campus for the fall semester.
Currently, we have several main focuses within the apiary. Of course, we are appropriately caring for the bees and completing other related maintenance tasks to facilitate hive development. Katerina has previous experience working with bees, and she is responsible for proper documentation of our hives' conditions and our interactions with the bees. Additionally, our hives are currently placed on hive scales as part of a mega study, and Kat is monitoring our hives' data through the Broodminder application. Finally, she is collaborating with Dr. Farone in researching biosecurity measures related to honeybees.
Additionally, we are continuing to water and care for the plants we introduced last fall. These include plants such as goldenrod, hairy beardtongue, and snapdragon, which are beneficial to pollinators. Additionally, we have a designated bed for catnip, and there is a row of pumpkins. We hope to use each of these as a source of income and to promote our garden! Another feature currently in development is a pollinator home for other pollinators that will visit our garden.
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Our major goals include community outreach and education, and in light of this, Deidra is exploring different methods of photographing bees. Using both traditional cameras and microscopes, we hope to produce high-quality images for educational purposes, and ultimately, we hope to publish a book with our images to educate others about honey bees.
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Finally, there is a lot to learn about honeybees themselves and the unique problems they face as an essential agricultural animal. Each research student is completing outside study through webinars and other resources to further their own knowledge.
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Over the next couple of months, we have many exciting plans for summer research! Stay tuned for more updates and information about our apiary.
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Fall 2020
Each student on the research team has an individual project they oversee! This page will soon contain more information about each project, along with some more information about what we are working on this semester.
Katerina is continuing to work with Beescape and Land4Bees so that they can better understand how landscape affects bee health. We currently have all four of our hives equipped with Broodminder scales which are collecting data every hour. You can learn more about our involvement with Beescape and Land4Bees under our “Collaborative Research” tab. Katerina has also taken on the job of being Dr. Farone's writing assistant as they research and write about cutting edge topics within veterinary medicine.
Figure 1: Sample data from the Broodminder scale under one of our hives at the Oliver Apiary. The green line shows the changed in temperature and the black line shows the increase and decrease in weight of the hive. Large dips in the weight could be due to removing parts of the hive during inspections. Through this data, you can track the change in hive growth.
During the Fall 2020 semester, Deidra will be taking more images with her camera and microscopy techniques, focusing on various bee and plant specimens. These pictures will build upon the photographs she took this summer and will document the autumn honey flow (hopefully), along with plant blooms! Then, she will be compiling her images into various sections, captioning them, and writing an educational book. She's excited to help provide an educational resource about bees, pollinator-friendly plants, and honey!
Maura is spearheading the establishment of the bee-yard landscaping as Garden Manager. She is currently creating map of the existing plantings, as well as a development plan for maintaining and expanding the existing Pollinator Friendly Garden at the Apiary. Additionally, she is working on a literature review and experimental plan for future research at the college involving bee venom treatments.
Image by Maura Ashley
Alliefair's current project within the research group pertains to community outreach. She is in the process of modifying previous educational brochures and creating new resources that can be distributed within the community to anyone interested in learning more about honeybees, regardless of one’s level of experience. The resources she is working on cover factors that affect honey bee health and how to adequately care for honey bees, myths about honey bees, various levels of intensity of beekeeping, and a brochure depicting the Oliver Apiary and the work being done on campus. The goal of this project is to raise awareness to the important role pollinators play in our everyday lives and to familiarize people with the antics of honeybees. Since our project is inclusive of our campus community – there are students collaborating on the project from the biology, engineering, art, and entrepreneurial departments – we think it is important to include the Grove City community in our research as well.
