PRECISION BEEKEEPING (APICULTURE) Presented By IMAD AL BABA, MSc. in Sustainable Natural Resources & Their Management. P.G.Diploma in Wildlife Management Planning. MSc. Zoology & Aquaculture. Free lance Consultant & Researcher
[email protected]
PRECISION BEEKEEPING (APICULTURE)
If Honey Bees Were To Disappear From Earth, Humans Would Be Dead Within 4 Years. Albert Einstein
Agriculture
Can you imagine being able to assess the state of your bee hives using your iphone /laptop, from the comfort of the kitchen table while eating your toast in the morning?
From the other side of the world? Being able to check that the queen is still OK without having to make a return trip to the hives in your apiary? Sounds incredible?
Precision Apiculture- (Beekeeping) • Precision beekeeping (PB) or remote hive monitors will enable you to monitor the status of your honey bee colonies and apiaries from any Internet enabled device such as a smartphone, tablet ;thus enabling rapid reaction by the beekeeper in case of necessity. • (PB) aiming to minimize resource consumption and maximize the sustainable productivity and services of honeybees.
Precision Apiculture
Why Precision Apiculture ?. • Beekeepers must open their hives and visually inspect for the presence of diseases ; colony development and health (bee and brood quantity). • This inspection is a source of: 1. Stress to the colony; 2. Time consuming. 3. Worker bees can be killed; 4. The queen also can be killed.
Precision Apiculture tools 1). Audio observation systems Usually continuous recording of sound emission (hive acoustics (flight noise, fanning noise and hive activity).) by honeybee colonies. Output of sound, with respect to both amplitude and duration.
2). Video observation systems A new camera technology makes it possible to recognize patterns of behavior, monitor whether something is wrong in the hive and even predict bee mite infection (Death; Swarming; Brood rearing; Broodless state; etc) . Camera setup for automatically counting honeybees with Video Counter, makes it
possible to dynamic
recognize
the
population
3).Temperature & humidity • Hive temperature, brood temperature and hive humidity. • Allowing trend observation and comparative analysis of data within a colony as well as between different colonies.
4). Accelerometers to measure vibrations • A set of vibration signals of honey bees can be identified and monitored in time. • The output of this method could be used to provide indications of highly specific physiological processes in honey bees, and applied to better understand swarming and health issues (population dynamics, activity, and brood cycle sensing).
5. Scale Hive • Hive weight records can link satellite observation to plant-bee interactions and ecosystem climate change. • Daily hive weight changes indicate nectar flow and pollen collection activities. • Daily hive weight changes, indicate pollen sources phenology (starting and ending days of pollen and nectar flow), population trends. • Beehives translocations can be made based on the records of scale hive. •
Example of PB Derived data interpretation and decision support systems
Local level of PB
Recommendations 1. Precision beekeeping is the best choice for sustaining the live by the major pollinator (Bees).. 2. Regional /Local networks are feasible & essential for precision beekeeping.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
