I’ll never forget the first time I was stung by a bee. I was about 3 years old, running barefoot through the yard and… I stepped on a bee. I didn’t like them much after that first encounter and for many years, went out of my way to avoid them.
Over time, I learned they really aren’t so bad. If you let them be, they won’t hurt you. Sometimes, they’re even cooperative enough to let you take macro photography shots, while they go from one flower to the next. At this point in my life, they are one of my favorite little critters. I can’t say I care much for honey, but bees do so much work, and it’s coming at a high cost.
You may have seen articles on here about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in the past, and this article is about an interesting approach to combating that.
A new project, called Swarm Sensing, is lead by Australian national science agency CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and involves working with the University of Tasmania, local Australian farmers, and bee keepers to tag 5,000 bees in Tasmania with little sensors (2.5mm x 2.5mm). These sensors allow them to track the awesome insects, in hopes of improving honeybee pollination and productivity on farms, as well as gaining better understanding on how the environment affects bees (including agricultural pesticides) and what may be causing CCD.
“Honey bees play a vital role in the landscape through a free pollination service for agriculture, which various crops rely on to increase yields.” CSIRO science leader Dr Paulo de Souza, who leads the swarm sensing project, said. “Around one third of the food we eat relies on pollination, but honey bee populations around the world are crashing because of the dreaded Varroa mite and Colony Collapse Disorder. Thankfully, Australia is currently free from both of those threats.”
The little Radio Frequency Identification sensors are fitted into the bee’s back and can be compared to how a vehicle’s e-tag works, in that it records when the bee passes a checkpoint. That information is sent remotely to a location where researchers use the 5,000 signals to build a comprehensive, 3-D model to visualize how the bees move through the landscape.
“Using this technology, we aim to understand the bee’s relationship with its environment. This should help us understand optimal productivity conditions as well as further our knowledge of the cause of colony collapse disorder,” Dr de Souza said. “Bees are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule. Any change in their behaviour indicates a change in their environment. If we can model their movements, we’ll be able to recognise very quickly when their activity shows variation and identify the cause. This will help us understand how to maximise their productivity as well as monitor for any biosecurity risks.”
If you’re worried about the sensors possibly harming the bees, the bees are refrigerated for a short period (to put them in a temporary dormant state) and the sensors are secured with an adhesive. The process is non-destructive and does not affect the bees’ ability to fly or work. They are currently working on reducing the size of the sensors to 1mm, which will also be used on fruit flies and mosquitoes in future projects.
