‘Bee Box’ provides stress-free insight into hidden life inside the hive
Aims
Researchers seeking ways to discover more about bee behaviour without disrupting the nest have built the world’s first ‘wild bee nests’ with built-in webcams.
Overview
Lancaster University Environmental Scientist Dr Philip Donkersley, working with Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering Jenny Roberts, developed prototype bumblebee nests after being inspired by bird boxes with built in cameras.
Dr Donkersley, who has researched how landscapes affect bee biology said, “We were advising a film crew on a project to film some very rare arctic bees – however there was no safe way to introduce a camera without damaging the nest. This got us thinking. My father-in-law had recently bought a bird box with a camera already installed and it seemed the obvious thing to do to try to design something that would work for wild bumblebees.”
Jenny Roberts explains how they did this: “Using 3D printing and moulding, we created a light-proof chamber with a small narrow entrance pipe. Once buried beneath ground, the prototype dome-shaped nests have already proven to be popular with queen bees on the hunt for a safe place for a nest.
“Robust enough to withstand the elements, the nests offer a safe potential nesting site which can even withstand the attention of large mammals such as cows.
“As the nests already have cameras installed in them before being put in the ground, it’s possible to see what the bees are up to without the need to disrupt or distress their colony.”
Results and Outcomes
Tab Content: For Partners and Engagement
Anyone who wants to can now gain unique insight into the life of bees.
Dr Donkersley explains “I have installed six of our early prototypes at the Hazelrigg Field Station at Lancaster University. Fitted with a camera complete with infrared lighting and powered and processed by a Raspberry Pi computer, the nest was colonised by the buff tailed bumblebee ‘Bombus terrestris’, and over the course of 2021 we streamed live footage via YouTube. Following successful recruitment of wild bumblebees in the spring, we will resume streaming footage in 2022.
“We are also talking to pest control companies who remove bumblebees from buildings, offering the nests as a ‘rehoming’ rather than ‘pest control’ solution, and we’d welcome enquiries from any businesses and other organisations who want to collaborate.”
“The bee boxes provided the missing half of bee ‘Bed and Breakfast’. One of my biggest bugbears about bee conservation is that we are always planting more food for them, but rarely doing any work on providing nesting sites for wild bees. These beeboxes are going to address that for agricultural and urban areas.
“By deploying these artificial nests across a range of locations, we hope to answer one of the most important things we still don’t know about bumblebees, how and why they choose their nest sites, as well as helping to boost species numbers by providing extra potential nest sites. We hope to one day see them on sale to the general public.”
Tab Content: For Academics
The team behind the bee cam nests received Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account funding for the project to apply the research in developing the bee nests.
Jenny Roberts gave her thoughts on the project, “There is huge public and media interest in bee and pollinators, so much of our food security depends upon them and this was a great opportunity to work on a product that will provide further insights into their behaviour, increasing our understanding and appreciation of these remarkable insects.
“The project enabled Philip and I to work together to develop our research partnership, share knowledge, bring in funding for our research, and enable us to build something that is engaging the general public and can potentially help the humble bumblebee.”
Dr Donkersley adds “We hope the nests will be the first of many, offering a glimpse of life inside the hive to environmental scientists, conservationists, wildlife-friendly gardeners and the general public alike. One of our plans involves going back to the original reasons for making beebox – we have established a collaboration with researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences, with whom we hope to use beebox to do a world first study of the nest ecology and live behaviour of arctic bee species that have been seen only a handful of times in the past century”
People interested may view the live footage via Youtube and/or contact Philip or Jenny to collaborate.
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