PHOTOS: SCIENCE IN ACTION


FORAGER IN FLIGHT
A honey bee forages on red clover, one of the most common sources of forage in our area.

PRAIRIE POLLEN
Honey bees in experimental hives have packed the comb full of diverse pollen.

HIVE INSPECTIONS
Ashley and Zoe record data on honey bee hive health in Iowa prairies.

RAINBOW NEST
This Polistes metricus wasp made her nest from colored construction paper, which we provided as building material.

WASP NEST BOXES IN THE FIELD
Are used in many experiments. Here, we simulated vibrational communication using piezoelectric devices.

WASP REARING IN THE LAB
Polistes paper wasps can be readily reared in the laboratory.

WASP NEST MAPPING
Is often used to track nest development. It is usually done at night, here by Amy Geffre.

PAINT MARKED WASPS
Are not only colorful, but useful! This allows us to track individual behavior.

HAND FEEDING WASP LARVAE
Using a pipetter is a handy way to deliver experimental treatments, such as drugs or dsRNA.

CHECKING BEEHIVES
Is a regular part of our work, so that we have healthy bees for experiments.

TEAM WORK
Happens a lot. Here, we were all pitching in to help paint about 10,000 bees in a day.

A MOBILE LABORATORY
Is sometimes needed to make collections at numerous field sites around Iowa.

BREAK OF DAWN
Colby monitors wasp nests is substantially easier at dawn when all occupants are home and sleepy.

TRAINING NEW-BEES
We've introduced dozens of new students to beekeeping, as Alex is doing here!

OBSERVING BEES
Much of our work involves observing and discussing behavior in the field, as Amy and Adam are doing here.