The first shipment of material to citizen scientists!

In the last days the parcels for citizen scientists were packed! Austrian citizen scientists all have their own pollen traps, so the other material was packed and send together with the picture manual to participants. Among others, it contains the sample bags, beehold tubes and the adapter for placing the beehold tubes in front of the pollen trap. Straws (for harvesting beebread) and stickers to label colonies are also provided. Though not complete yet, the picture below shows the content of the box for Austrian citizen scientists. Aluminium foil and disposable medical gloves may be added too!

Some of the content of the boxes shipped to Austrian Citizen scientists today.
Surprisingly the boxes fit all the materials! Later they are stuffed with fill material and ready to be shipped.

Insignia study setup 2019

In 2019, four different methods to sample pesticides and pollen diversity will be tested and compared in four countries (Austria, Denmark, England, Greece). The tests will be made by citizen scientists, which need three honey bee colonies on one apiary.

Here is a very rough scheme of the study setup!

In 2019, three colonies will be used per apiary. Two of them will have pollen traps installed, the third one will be sampled with different methods.

Testing beehold tubes and adapter in Austria before sending it to participants

The materials needed for participants are currently packed and shipped before Easter. Good chance to test the beehold tubes and adapter! As you can see, I put some tape around the adaptor to first make it more stable, and second reduce light in the adapter. I decided not to use black tape, as I was afraid of overheating in summer.

This is what is needed for colony 1. Pollen trap should be installed. Then insert tubes in the adaptor – two beehold tubes (insert from outside, this will be the bees entrance) and two exit tubes from inside (these are ordinary plastic tubes without active substances and serve as exit for the bees). Click on image for full size picture!

Continue reading “Testing beehold tubes and adapter in Austria before sending it to participants”

Picture Manuals for Austrian Citizen Scientists

The materials needed to participate in INSIGNIA will be send out soon to citizen scientists! Here you can see the picture manual for instruction. It includes a step by step guidance on how to take and store samples, as well as a phenology list of important pollen sources.

For Austrian citizen scientists, the document was translated to German and a spiral binding folder was produced.

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