Assessing the impact of solar installations on solitary bee foraging and in-nest behavior

Microclimates, small-scale, localized environmental conditions, greatly impact the performance and behavior of insects, small-bodied ectotherms. Given the decline in managed populations of bees (e.g. honeybees), there is a need to understand and evaluate the impacts of global change on vital solitary bee pollinators and the habitats and resources they rely upon. One notable mechanism of global change impacting bees is landscape modification. Within the Midwest, agriculture is one of the leading drivers of this habitat change. Additionally, the integration of agricultural and energy production through agrivoltaics is a growing practice further altering landscapes. The microclimates created by such installations are largely undocumented and the impact of these conditions on the resilience of solitary bees to climate change overall remains unclear. Further, research on these practices has not evaluated the effects of these practices on solitary bees at the small scale bees are largely interacting with their environment. Using a newly developed solitary bee hotel tool (with camera-based tracking and monitoring), I will describe my doctoral research which aims to address open questions surrounding the impact of solar installations on critical solitary bee behaviors. Employing traditional field sampling and deep-learning-based computer vision and analysis systems, I will describe how I use these techniques to achieve two objectives: (O1) Assess the impact of bee behavior and performance by being within solar (underneath solar panels), (O2) Characterize the effects of solar arrays on microclimate and floral resources (i.e. species present, and production of nectar and pollen).