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'Shutterbee' Has Biologists Asking St. Louisans To Collaborate As Backyard Naturalists

All that's required to participate is some sunshine, a camera and some brief virtual training.
Nicole Miller-Struttmann
All that's required to participate is some sunshine, a camera and some brief virtual training.
Nicole Miller-Struttmann has in previous years spearheaded "Bee Blitzes" in Forest Park. This year's Shutterbee effort takes those bee-tracking efforts to a whole new level.
Credit File photo | Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
Nicole Miller-Struttmann has in previous years spearheaded "Bee Blitzes" in Forest Park. This year's Shutterbee effort takes those bee-tracking efforts to a whole new level.

Reading the headlines of 2020 can be pretty overwhelming. Between a pandemic, an economic crisis and even a much-hyped sighting of “murder hornets” in the Pacific Northwest, it can all leave one feeling pretty helpless about attempting to be a force for good in the world.

But on an ecological level, at least one such attempt can take place right in one’s own backyard — and Nicole Miller-Struttmann and bee experts everywhere will be grateful for it. Miller-Struttmann and fellow biologists at Webster University and St. Louis University are launching Shutterbee, a collaborative project powered by citizen scientists.

It requires only some sunshine, a camera and completion of a single virtual training session on May 20, 21 or 23. Shutterbee’s organizers are intent on reaching a real scientific goal: to discover how landscape features and land management decisions affect bee diversity and behavior.

One Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, Miller-Struttmann joined host Sarah Fenske to talk about how Shutterbee works. She also delved into the critical roles bees play on Earth and some of the threats they face.

Listen:

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill, Lara Hamdan and Joshua Phelps. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Evie Hemphill joined the St. Louis on the Air team in February 2018. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2005, she started her career as a reporter for the Westminster Window in Colorado. Several years later she went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing at the University of Wyoming and moved to St. Louis upon earning an MFA in the spring of 2010. She worked as writer and editor for Washington University Libraries until 2014 and then spent several more years in public relations for the University of Missouri–St. Louis before making the shift to St. Louis Public Radio.