Project lead: André Rey
Project team: Ayaka Gütlin, Jürg Sommerhalder, Esther Vogel, Florence Gilliéron
With the web app bee-finder we already offer a unique, freely available tool for the targeted conservation of local wild bee species. Now the Bee-Finder is to learn more.
Working title: Bee-Finder 2.0
Under the internal working title Bee-Finder 2.0 we have begun the second phase of the project: the ecological leverage of the Bee-Finder is to be greatly increased through the measures below.
Several languages
As an association active nationwide, we owe it to wild bee conservation and to our compatriots in other language regions to offer our services in several languages. In version 2.0 the Bee-Finder is to learn French and Italian.
Additional data
The parameters the Bee-Finder draws on to determine the best plant recommendations are being greatly extended.
• Expanding the plant catalogue
At present the Bee-Finder takes account of somewhat more than 200 common wild plants. Bee-Finder 2.0 is to take account of all of the roughly 4,000 insect-pollinated plants native to Switzerland.
• Biogeographical distribution
Bee-Finder 2.0 will also take account of the biogeographical region of the address queried and recommend only plants suited to it.
• Taking altitude into account
Most plants thrive best at their preferred altitude. The plant recommendations of Bee-Finder 2.0 are therefore to be made still more precisely in relation to the altitude of the address queried.
• Tongue length of the bees
Plants and bees have evolved together over many millions of years. Among other things, their mutual adaptations have led to flowers with corollas of differing depths and to bees with tongues of differing lengths. Bee-Finder 2.0 will take these dependencies into account and recommend flowers that match the tongue length of the target species at the address queried.
• Taking soil quality into account
At present, planting depth and light requirements are assessed as part of the plant recommendations. Bee-Finder 2.0 is to take additional parameters into account, such as soil nutrient content, site moisture and the plant’s pH requirements.
Coverage
The Bee-Finder’s roughly 100,000 records are to be expanded continually and the gaps in our knowledge of species distribution closed.
Funding
We will of course put our full commitment into developing the Bee-Finder further as well. But the ideas behind these extensions are too large to be shouldered by our own labour and our own means alone. We are therefore looking for funding. Pleasingly, the project is finding favour with foundations, and we have already won several of them over to expanding the Bee-Finder.
The following foundations and institutions support this project:
