Scientists hope to speed up research on pollinators with artificial intelligence and the public’s help. The new Bee Machine App identifies bees that people photograph in the wild with their smartphones. This could help scientists track increasingly hard-to-find species, like the american bumblebee, and identify tricky species that look similar to each other. Kansas State University Entomologist Brian Spiesman created Bee Machine and says the app is still learning to identify many lesser-known bees. He says that much of the general public doesn’t even realize they’re bees, because they’re so small, but they’re very important not only for agriculture, but for the natural ecosystem. Native bees pollinate many plants that european honeybees cannot. May insect species are declining globally and scientists are scrambling to piece together a better picture of what’s happening. That app is called Bee Machine. It is available for download on most phones.
