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Brian Spiesman

@brianspiesman.bsky.social
1.3K followers 345 following 24 posts

Dad who likes pollinators, ecology AI, and community science. K-State Entomology beemachine.ai

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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 19/08/2026
UPDATE! Check and modify bee detection in your photos for greater accuracy. If you like using BeeMachine, consider leaving a 5⭐ review! Android: tinyurl.com/2e955rj5 iOS: tinyurl.com/39kwkau6
tinyurl.com
BeeMachine - Apps on Google Play
A community science app for identifying bee species using computer vision
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Ben Iuliano @beniuliano.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Next, some politics. Integrated pest management has failed to curb pesticide use. To succeed, it needs to move beyond narrow technical advice to confront power in the food system. We can learn how to do that from the field of sustainability transitions doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...
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Ben Iuliano @beniuliano.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
First some science: we sequenced eDNA from 500+ lady beetles and found they eat a lot more than aphids, and their diets get more diverse in as landscapes do! doi.org/10.1002/eap....
Bipartite network diagram of lady beetle prey trophic relationships from DNA sequencing dataPredicted effects of landscape diversity within 250 m of collection sites on prey taxa richness in the sampled lady beetle community. Prey richness increases with landscape diversity
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 11/05/2026
Big BeeMachine update! 🐝✨ BeeMachine can now identify 1,184 kinds of flower-visitors, including 999 bee species — a huge jump from the previous 354. See the full list at beemachine.ai/page/about #citizenscience #pollinators #AIForGood #biodiversity #bees
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Olivia Bernauer, PhD @oliviabernauer.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Excited to share that our paper, led by Matt Smith (@ IIT) describing how to create and use automated pollinator camera traps, AutoPollS, is now out in the world: doi.org/10.1111/2041... w/ @jamescrall.bsky.social @brianspiesman.bsky.social @jhemberger.bsky.social
Image of a tagged bumble bee visiting a buckwheat flower captured by an AutoPollS deviceDr. Matt Smith, Illinois Institute of Technology, adjusting an AutoPollS unit under an apple tree. The AutoPollS cameras are pointed at apple flowers during bloom. AutoPollS deployed in a pollinator meadow alongside a cranberry marsh. A zinnia flower being monitored by an AutoPollS camera while a hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, visits the flower.
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 09/04/2026
Check out our new maps and BeeMachine's Observatory! Filter sightings and see where other BeeMachine users have seen your favorite bees.
BeeMachine website screenshot with global map of hex cells representing bee sighting densities.
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 08/04/2026
We're letting loose a big update on BeeMachine web & mobile. A lot of new features including much improved mapping, a Community Projects feature to coordinate collaborative projects, and a Verification Hub for our expert users to more easily verify BeeMachine predictions. Let us know what you think!
Graphic that says "Update Time!" and lists new features of BeeMachine: Community Projects, Observatory, Verification Hub, and more.
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Nigel Raine @nigeleraine.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
New DNA metabarcoding results show the distribution of cavity nesting #bees & #wasps, & their food sources, from schools across 🇨🇦. This community science work, led by Sage Handler, reveals network links among plants, #pollinators, parasites, predators & prey doi.org/10.3897/mbmg... @mbmg.pensoft.net
Leafcutter bee visiting a pink flower to collect nectar (photo taken by Sage Handler)
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NPR @npr.org · 01/10/2025
Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 08/09/2025
Make sure to get the latest update for Android and iOS! BeeMachine mobile now includes location and date in the classification process for improved accuracy. You can also share images from your image gallery straight to BeeMachine.
Beemachine logo with bee saying “update time!”, along with App Store and Google Play store logos.
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
So proud of the work done by my students in the Pollinator Ecology Lab at K-State!
youtube.com
Capturing Pollinator Impact | Student Story
YouTube video by K-State Entomology
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 04/06/2025
BeeMachine now uses 🗺️location & 📆date to improve predictions. These details allow BeeMachine to better distinguish b/w similar looking species & provide IDs that are more relevant to your area. Now active on the web & coming soon to mobile. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
World map showing a yellow map marker representing the location of a bee sighting
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Margarita Lopez-Uribe @mmlopezu.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
I am so excited about this upcoming publication about the Bees of Pennsylvania! 🐝 Stay tuned; we will have a page online where you can purchase this book in July! @nashturley.bsky.social @napoleonicento.bsky.social @stephanidae.bsky.social
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Dr. Emily Dolson @emilydolson.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
This seems like the perfect occasion for my favorite fun fact about Volterra! From his wikipedia page: "In 1922, he joined the opposition to the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and in 1931 he was one of only 12 out of 1,250 professors who refused to take a mandatory oath of loyalty."
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John M. Mola @johnmola.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
New research on how non-native honeybees alter visitation networks in a peri-urban environment. authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Yes, they can hallucinate papers that don't exist, discuss results that seem to be imaginary, and can be confusing and inconsistent. But talking to tenured professors may still be helpful
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Cool stuff!
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Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Land-use change reduces bee diversity at local scales, but the impacts of agriculture and urbanisation differ at regional scales. Agriculture has more negative effects overall. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🧪 🌏 🌐
(a) Map showing locations of 157 studies included, and the proportion of natural, agricultural, and urban habitats sampled within the study. Pie size is proportional to the number of sampled sites in each study, ranging from 1 to 368. The density plot indicates the distribution of the studied assemblages (n = 3117) along the latitudinal gradient. (b–d) Diversity changes relative to values of natural habitats, with each panel showing responses of one diversity metric: (b) α-, (c) β-, and (d) γ-diversity. Point estimates represent model predictions of each land use based on fixed effects only, while error bars are 95% confidence intervals. The estimations of α-diversity were obtained by holding other covariates at the mean or mode values. For β- and γ-diversity, the estimation reflects a standardized sampling study with all assemblages having 100% sampling completeness, and other covariates at the mean or mode values. Small letters above error bars indicate results from pairwise comparisons, with different letters representing different groups. *Indicates that the pairwise comparisons included marginally nonsignificant results (p = 0.06).
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
Rewatching this at bat - an all-timer - never fails to brighten my day. youtu.be/N4nwMDZYXTI?...
youtu.be
Kirk Gibson's legendary 1988 World Series walk-off home run, called by Vin Scully!
YouTube video by MLB
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 06/10/2024
Pretty sweet stache on this Southern Plains bumble bee. Bombus fraternus
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 03/10/2024
Map bug fixed for iOS devices! Get the update in the App Store
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 01/07/2024
UPDATE: BeeMachine is now available in 40 different languages!🔓🌐
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 29/05/2024
New work out today on how we can use #AI to ID some of the more challenging #bees from images of whole pinned bees and just their wings. Look for more on this soon. @beemachine.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org
Deep learning for identifying bee species from images of wings and pinned specimens
One of the most challenging aspects of bee ecology and conservation is species-level identification, which is costly, time consuming, and requires taxonomic expertise. Recent advances in the applicati...
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 18/04/2024
t-SNE visualization of the 354 pollinator taxa in the latest BeeMachine algorithm. Each point represents a test image and clusters represent images with similar learned features. Labels are placed over the class centroid. Points are color coded by taxa.
Graph showing t-SNE visualization of bee and other pollinators illustrating how learned features are grouped by taxa
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BeeMachine @beemachine.ai · 15/04/2024
⚡️Important #update for BeeMachine users⚡️This update helps with "lost" sightings and with performance issues on Android devices.
Update to BeeMachine v1.2.6!
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 05/04/2024
BeeMachine Update!!!
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 30/01/2024
Undergrad summer internships available in the REEU program at K-State! Gain research experience & learn about cutting edge technology in ag/plant sciences. Lots of projects to choose from including computer vision and #AI for #pollinator monitoring. www.plantpath.k-state.edu/academics/un...
Flyer for internship applications
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Tomer Ullman @tomerullman.bsky.social · 30/11/2023
asking for an image of a professor and asking to make it "more professor", a thread.
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 04/08/2023
Bad news from Gothic: 35 years of insect decline in a pristine mountain meadow. Great work by Nora Underwood & Brian Inouye (my former PhD advisers!) et al. coloradosun.com/2023/08/04/climate-…
coloradosun.com
Insects are in dramatic decline in Colorado, 35-year-long study reveals
62% fewer insects were trapped in a meadow near Gothic, a loss correlated with less winter snowfall, less summer rain and warmer temperatures
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 30/07/2023
Bees loving the sunflowers today!
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 25/07/2023
Did you know that the BeeMachine mobile app supports multiple languages? Learn about bees in: 日本語 Español Français Italiano English More languages coming soon!
The BeeMachine Bee saying hello in Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, and English.
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 25/07/2023
Help us track bee populations around the world. BeeMachine is our citizen science app for AI-based bee identification. Just take a picture of a bee and BeeMachine will do the rest. Your sightings will contribute to a database that we can use to develop conservation strategies for bees.
Flyer for BeeMachine app
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Brian Spiesman @brianspiesman.bsky.social · 24/07/2023
Negotiating access. Brown belted bumble bee and two-spotted longhorn meeting on a Gaillardia flower
Two bees meeting on a flower
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