Honey Bees Weigh In on Climate

  • Released Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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This animation illustrates the relationship between the annual vegetation cycle and seasonal variations in the weights of honey bee hives. The weight of a hive increases in the spring as bees bring back nectar from flowering plants. The change in hive weight over time can be compared with satellite measurements of vegetation. Tracking a large number of hives this way can reveal the effects of changing climate and land use on the interaction of plants and pollinators. Data from this hive in Highland, Maryland and others suggests that for some locations in the U.S., spring is arriving earlier by as much as half a day per year, probably due to a combination of climate and the warming effect of urbanization.

This animation has been incorporated into the video "Feeling the Sting of Climate Change," which provides more background and introduces HoneyBeeNet, a central repository for hive weight data from across the U.S.

Satellite data showing the annual variation in vegetation is combined with a graph of hive weight for a beehive in Highland, Maryland.

A print-resolution still of the complete hive weight graph superimposed on mid-summer satellite vegetation data for the continental United States.

A print-resolution still of the complete hive weight graph superimposed on mid-summer satellite vegetation data for the continental United States.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Next Generation Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

This page was originally published on Wednesday, August 26, 2009.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

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Datasets used

  • Blue Marble Land Cover [Terra and Aqua: MODIS]

    ID: 510
    Sensor: MODIS Dates used: 1 Jan - 31 Dec 2004

    Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • Highland, MD Bee Hive Weight

    ID: 648
    Type: Data Compilation Collected by: HoneyBeeNet Dates used: 1992 - 2007
    See all pages that use this dataset

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.