One thing you probably don’t think about when you encounter a honey bee is how that honey bee could be helping researchers at CU Denver monitor different pollutants along the Front Range.
However, it might be doing exactly that. Christy Briles, associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences in CU Denver’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been studying honey bees to better understand pollutants for more than 10 years.
Briles leads research through the CU Denver Bee Project that explores how honey bees act as “environmental sentinels.” As bees forage for pollen and nectar, they collect tiny particles from the air and plants, bringing valuable environmental data back to their hives.
With 60,000 to 80,000 bees in a single hive during the summer, researchers can use thousands of natural “field workers” to sample large urban areas or reach locations that are difficult for scientists to access. Briles explains more in the next installment of our Ask an Expert video series.