Wildlife

Micro-sensors on honey bees to help solve mass deaths

Australian scientists revealed on Tuesday they are using micro-sensors attached to honey bees as part of a global push to understand the key factors driving a worldwide population decline of the pollinators.

There has been a sharp plunge in the population of honey bees, which pollinate about 70 per cent of global crops, or one-third of food that humans eat including fruits and vegetables, raising fears over food security.

Researchers have said the falling hive numbers were caused by threats such as the sudden death of millions of adult insects in beehives — known as “colony collapse disorder” — a bloodsucking mite called Varroa, pesticides and climate change.

The sensors, 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) in width and breadth and weighing 5.4 milligrams (0.0002 ounces) — lighter than pollen that bees collect — are glued to the back of European honey bees. Sophisticated data collection receptors are also built into hives.

About 10,000 bees and their hives in the southern island state of Tasmania have been tagged, with others set to be monitored in the cities of Sydney and Canberra.

Around the same number of bees in Brazil were also being monitored by researchers, with interest expressed from scientists in Europe and North America, Fitt said.

Australia’s bee populations have not been devastated as the island continent has yet to be affected by the Varroa mite.

In countries such as the US, beekeepers lost 42 per cent of colonies over the 12 months to May this year — the second-worst year on record for US bee mortality, with the worst season reported in 2012-13, the US Department of Agriculture have estimated.