EAST LANSING, Mich. — Renovations have begun on a former indoor animal air quality research facility to give pollinator-related research a new home. It will be MSU's first Pollinator Performance Center.
“This is a new building that we just moved into,” MSU Extension Apiculture Educator Ana Heck said. “It’s where our research and extension work for pollinators will be housed.”
One initiative the MSU Extension program will help implement in the new center is Heroes to Hives. The program gives military veterans beekeeping training in the center's open honeybee yard.
For pros like Heck, educating the public about bees is just one part of what the pollinator performance center will bring to campus.
“There’s a lot of good research going on here at MSU about honeybees, worker bees, and other species,” Heck said.
When you think of bees, honey may be the first thing on your mind but according to the Bee Conservancy, bees pollinate one-third of the food we eat in the U.S.
Each year bee colonies face massive die-offs due to environmental issues like habitat loss and climate change.
“It’s important for us to figure out ways to better support them, their health, and in addition to that work with outreach to educate the public,” Heck said.
As a research center on campus, the newly renovated building will house the hive you see here as well as studies on other pollinators like butterflies as well.
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