A season of simulated weather and hive-scale readings drives six apiary sites and a wildflower habitat strip. Watch how habitat maturity and rainfall change flight days, hive weight and weekly pollinator transect counts.
How it works ▾
Each simulated day rolls independent weather from the rain-frequency slider and a seasonal temperature curve. A day only counts as a flight day when both are favourable:
flight = !rain(day) AND temp(day) ≥ 12°C
Bloom coverage across the wildflower strip follows the habitat's maturity (perennial plantings take a few seasons to fully establish) combined with where the site sits in its growing season:
bloom(t) = min(1, years/3) · sin(π · dayOfYear/180)
Hive weight — the single most informative reading in the article — only rises on flight days, scaled by local bloom and each site's microclimate quality, and drifts down on rest/rain days from ordinary consumption:
Δweight = flight ? bloom·quality·forageRate : −maintenanceLoss
Once a week the habitat gets a timed pollinator transect count, which is what turns raw readings into a habitat impact assessment: more mature, more established bloom draws visibly more visits, independent of any single day's weather.
visits = base + bloom(t)·visitScale + noise
- Habitat maturity — years since the wildflower strip was planted; scales how much of the field is actually in bloom.
- Rain frequency — higher means more grounded days and slower hive-weight gain.
- Dashboard view — switches which reading colours the hive towers and drives the trend chart.