Mentors: Suzy Strickler with intellectual support from Paul CaraDonna

Pollinators play an important role in the pollination and reproduction of many plant species. However, documenting pollination events in action and identifying numerous floral visitors is both challenging and time-consuming. Since substantial progress has been made in the use of digital image processing using artificial intelligence (AI), we will test a Raspberry Pi device built in-house to capture images of pollinators in action visiting flowers. This prototype will be placed in natural areas at/near the Chicago Botanic Garden to monitor floral visitation of native Hypericum species. The images will be processed with AI software to identify the insects that visit the flowers. The refined prototype will later be applied to many other plant species, providing an efficient and automated tool for quantifying and identifying floral visitors involved in pollination.