WebBee A Brazilian information network on bees. Antonio Mauro Saraiva Universidade de São Paulo CODATA Workshop – 8-10 May 2007 Atibaia - Brazil

About Pollinators > 80% of flowering plants are pollinated by animals. > 1/3 of the world's major food crops. $200 Billion annually in value for global agriculture. 10,000 bee, 500 bat, and 300 hummingbird species in the Americas There is growing evidence that pollinators are declining in the Americas and globally.

Initially: a web-based monitoring system Focus on automatic data acquisition

Colony monitoring network Temperature, Humidity Flight activity –Bee counter thermoregulation

A step ahead: an information system Knowledge and information on bees need to be –organized, preserved, shared, published(!) Target audience –scientists, beekeepers, students, teachers, policy makers, agricultural producers… Increase public awareness on the importance and uses of pollinators –in Portuguese and other languages

WebBee: information system Contents: Bee species data: biology, taxonomy, distribution, Hives, equipment & numerical data Beekeeping, plants visited Bibliography –Dynamic web pages: database –Multimedia: texts, images, videos Web–based: easy access and sharing

System Diagram WeB Bee MySQL Server PHP HTTP Server WEB browser Maintenance program ODBC FTP Server Linux Server DB

WeB Bee Software Platform Operating system Database MS Dynamic Pages Graphics Linux MySQL PHP Graphics library GD WEB Server Apache

Database – Species catalog WebBee images and texts

Database – Weather station (at IB – USP, São Paulo) WebBee graphics and table

Database of Bibliography WebBee Documents: description and (some) files

WebBee - a network Groups cooperate on providing data –Species information –Experimental data / weather stations –By region, taxon… Distributed Effort Intellectual property –authorship –neutral domain: WeB Bee

Participants: BeeLab – Instituto de Biociências da USP Agricultural Automation Lab – Escola Politécnica - USP Embrapa Amazônia Oriental Labe - Empresa Baiana de Desenvolvimento Agrícola – EBDA Universidade Est. de Feira de Santana - UEFS WeB Bee

Status Centralized database Remote data-entry tool Other features: –plants visited (names, images) –pollen characteristics

Brazilian Pollinators Initiative (BPI) website events publications timeline activities

Other features tribute to important Brazilian scientists –Web pages for Dr. Jesus S. Moure, Dr. Paulo Nogueira Neto Dr. Warwick E. Kerr, –have already been / are being developed. Individual contributions Dr. Rodrigo Singer –Bees and orchids Dr. Anthony Raw –megachilidae

Virtual network center of ecosystem services Research consortium –Escola Politécnica & Instituto de Biociências (USP), –Instituto de Botânica –University of California, S. Diego Objectives –Develop WebLabs on two ecosystem services Pollination Photosynthesis Research / Education / Awareness raising Use / develop content / applications for the Advanced Internet

Database –high resolution images (several Mpixels) High resolution images of bees

Instead of this image It may replace the real specimen which is usually sent by mail for comparison High resolution images for identification and classification

Use of Video via Internet on R&E on Pollination Objectives: Research –Allow remote access to field or lab experiments –Facilitate collaboration between researchers –Use an Advanced Internet for real-time video streaming: HD video Education / training / decision making –Make available materials on biology/ keeping of bees –Reach wider audience –“commodity” Internet – SD videos

Database - Video Research and educational videos –SD video (640x480) easy access via Internet –behavioral patterns of each species. –students, researchers and beekeepers can recognize bee species Behavior at the bee hive entrance (Melipona crinita)

The IABIN Pollinators Thematic Network InterAmerican Biodiversity Information Network

PTN Vision A Pollinators Thematic Network for the Americas which will facilitate integration of information about pollinators in an efficient retrieval system

IABIN - PTN Co-Evolution Institute Universidade de Sao Paulo ITIS - Integrated Taxonomic Information System NBII - National Biological Information Infrastructure CRIA - Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental

PTN System Content Scientific and common names Experts Specimens and observations Pollinator-plant associations Literature

PTN Architecture

PTN Group Portal pollinators.incubadora.fapesp.br

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(Originally a) HD video