The value of honey bee pollination in the United States’ agricultural industries is over $14 billion annually[1]; these tiny insects are a vitally important part to the life cycle of a multitude of crops. Unfortunately, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is now responsible for the destruction of millions of hives across the globe. Though we are able to identify many roots of this devastating affliction, such as the introduction of invasive species, habitat loss, and usage of pesticides, the variety of these causes makes discovering a single cure extremely difficult. In the early 1980s, the United States’ yearly winter season loss of colonies oscillated between an acceptable range of 5-10%. Within the past ten years, this percentage has inflated to an unacceptably high rate fluctuating between 25-35% colony loss[2][3]. We plan to combat this staggering decrease in honey bee populations by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to pinpoint locations known as “drone congregations areas” (DCAs). These areas are where male honey bees gather during the spring and early summer and wait for their chance to mate with a passing queen bee. After identifying the locations of these DCAs, apiarists can use traps coated in a queen bee’s pheromones to capture some of the male bees. This will allow the apiarists to test the drones’ virility as well as harvest sperm for later artificial insemination of queen bees.
If our project is successful, we hope that pinpointing the locations of many DCAs might help unravel some of the mystery behind these congregation spots. Currently, we know that the locations drones gather one year will remain relatively the same the following year, despite the fact that the previous generation of drones will have all died out and not been able to lead the younger generation to the specific area. While there are theories as to what exactly draws the male bees to these spots year after year, there has not been any confirmed explanation. Our project will not only help apiarists interested in capturing drones, but provide a means of gathering data that may help to shed light on some of the peculiar habits of honey bees.
[1] United States Department of Agriculture AgResearch Magazine. Mar 2004.https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2004/mar/form
[2] vanEngelsdorp D, Hayes J Jr, Underwood RM, Pettis J. Dec 30, 2008. “A Survey of Honey Bee Colony Losses in the U.S., Fall 2007 to Spring 2008”. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004071#s4
[3] Bee Informed Partnership. May 4, 2016. “Colony Loss 2015-2016: Preliminary Results”.https://beeinformed.org/results/colony-loss-2015-2016-preliminary-results/
