Before you use the app, please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with our one-page Quick Guide to Collecting Data
We created a simple research protocol for you to follow that will enable you to collect high quality data on the wild bee community in your area using the WiBee app.
This protocol was tested by a group of Wisconsin growers to ensure it is easy to follow and not time intensive.
Download the Quick Guide to Collecting Data (PDF)
Surveying wildflowers or ornamental flowers?
Have you noticed how some flowers, like apple, are large and simple, while others like prairie clover are small and complex?
For Wibee, we want to count visits to a “flower unit” for complex flowers. See different definitions of a “flower unit” in this PDF: How to define a “flower”.
Non-Crop Plant Species
(Tip: “crop” on the WiBee App refers to plants that are grown to produce food, even if it’s in your home garden.)
Focusing on a few preferred plants helps us compare within a plant species across the state. Our focal plants are listed below and found on this Non-Crop focal plant quick reference:
Common plants: Dandelion, White Clover, Creeping Charlie, Wild Bergamot, Cup Plant, Leadplant, Goldenrod, Milkweed
Rare plants: American Gromwell, Forked Aster, Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, Lesser Yellow Lady Slipper
Don’t have any of these flowers nearby or want to survey something else? That’s ok! All surveys are helpful and there’s a place to search and enter other plant species in the app.
*if you are having trouble finding your plant in the app list, email us at pollinators@wisc.edu
