About 70% of our foodstuffs are pollinated by bees. To be frank, the help we get from these tiny creatures every day, for free, is indispensable. But as all species seem to be endangered as of date, honeybees numbers have been declining drastically too, the factors contributing to their decline, though remain unknown. Thus, a research team lead by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, is working with the Global Initiative for Honey Bee Health (GIHH) in a new study designed to identify factors that may be harming the global bee population.

This steady dwindling of bees had been noticed in the late 1990s by the beekeepers. As number of factor could be at fault here, including but not limited to, chemical changes, pathogens or pesticides. The latest technology is RFID micro-sensors that are attached to individual bees using tweezers and super glue. Each sensor confers a unique identity to each bee by designating it a specific code and license plate.

Using these sensors and other solar-powered Intel Edison boards inside the hive and receivers placed in the vicinity of the hive, the researchers can study can study their behavior and monitor their movement throughout each bee’s lifetime. The sensor doesn’t interfere with the bee’s activity in any way.

“The tiny technology allows researchers to analyze the effects of stress factors including disease, pesticides, air pollution, water contamination, diet and extreme weather on the movements of bees and their ability to pollinate,” Professor Paulo de Souza, CSIRO Science Leader, said. “We’re also investigating what key factors, or combination of factors, lead to bee deaths on mass.”

These sensors will be deployed on thousands of bees in Australia to start with, and further goals of this project are to extend the monitored area to a 1000 hives and 2.5 million bees.

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Author:Technology Blog