Backyard Beetles and Pollinators Dataset - EREN/NEON Flexible Learning Project

This dataset comes from the EREN-NEON flexible learning project 'Backyard Beetles and Pollinators.' It can be used for teaching field, computational, or hybrid courses. The dataset is standardized, visual observations of insect plant visitors, identified to standard functional groups, to indirectly assess pollination and construct plant-pollinator interaction networks. Insects were identified to morphospecies in the field using reference images. We also collected information about the flowers the insects were observed on - including functional type information about the color, size, and type of flower - as well as cover. This information is part of an ongoing course-based undergraduate research project to both teach about plants, insects, and functional biodiversity in a flexible and inclusive way - while collaboratively assessing interaction networks across landscapes and time. To use the flexible lesson materials or join the collaboration, get more information here: https://erenweb.org/eren-neon-flexible-learning-projects/ Or contact the project lead, Dr. Stack Whitney, directly at kxwsbi [at] RIT [dot] edu.