If the bees die out, the people die out too
You are what you eat
Bee360 presents innovative technology site for the preservation of biodiversity in the Schutter Valley
The Karlsruhe-based startup apic.ai has set itself the goal of researching and combating bee mortality. In cooperation with Bee360 and other companies, a small but fine installation was set up at the edge of the forest in Schuttertal from August 19, 2021. A camera-based monitoring system developed by apic.ai was installed at the entrance of two bee colonies belonging to beekeeper Mattias Vetterer. From then on, they registered the bees flying in and out, and especially the pollen they carried on their legs into the hive.
It was investigated whether the diversity of the local flora can be automatically recorded by “reading” the bee as a biosensor.
In detail, it was examined here whether,
– a determination of pollen colors on photographic material is possible,
– differences in pollen color can be used to infer the diversity of plants in the environment, and
– an assignment of individual plants to specific pollen colors is possible.
The data collected in Schuttertal were used and further evaluated as part of the OCELI research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which apic.ai carried out together with four other partners. Whether the research project was successful, how high the diversity of the food supply of the pollinators was on site and what measures are now planned to counteract so-called Trachtlücken, you can read here in the official final report.