Van Morrison sang about it, Peter Fonda starred in a movie about it, and people from all over the world will pay top dollar just to get some of it. It's tupelo honey, a honey so distinct, light and smooth that people describe it as they would a fine wine. But the future of tupelo honey production may not be so sweet.

FSU College of Social Sciences Geography Professor J. Anthony Stallins, doctoral student Kelly Watson and master's student Matt Smith are studying factors that could affect the future of beekeeping operations in Northwest Florida—one of the only places in the world where tupelo honey is produced commercially. Some beekeepers say that every year they seem to be getting less honey for their efforts.

On September 14th, the Coastal and Marine Conservation Lecture Series hosted "Trees and Bees in the Florida Panhandle." In this lecture, Stallins and his students explored the degree to which changing river hydrology, exotic pests, land development and other factors are affecting tupelo honey production, an important regional industry that contributes about $2.4 million a year to F lorida's economy. However, these aren't the only causes. Other social and economic factors also impact the practice of beekeeping.

Beekeepers understand this already. "But our goal," Stallins said, "is to communicate these issues to a broader audience, and to develop a broad synthesis of how they might intersect with the unique environmental history of the Apalachicola River and surrounding inland communities."