Model for the bee apiary location evaluation

Abstract

Honeybees are predominant and ecologically as well as economically important group of pollinators in most geographical regions. As a result of analysing current situation in studies and practices, a conclusion was drawn that beekeeping sector is in decline. The identified reasons for this are land-use intensification, monocropping, pesticide poisoning, colony diseases, parasites and adverse climate. One of the solutions is to find a proper bee colony harvesting location and use luring methods to attract bees to this location. Usually beekeepers choose the apiary location based on their own previous experience and sometimes the position is not optimal for the bees. This can be explained by different flowering periods, variation of resources at the known fields, as well as other factors. This research presents a model for evaluation of possible apiary locations, taking into account resource availability estimation in different surrounding agricultural fields. Authors propose a model for real agricultural field location digitization and evaluation of possible apiary location by fusing information about available field resources. To achieve this, several steps have to be completed, such as selection of fields of interest, converting selection to polygons for further calculations, defining the potential values and coefficients for amount of resources depending on type of crops and season and calculation of harvesting locations. As the outcome of the model, heat map of possible apiary locations are presented to the end-user (beekeeper) in the visual way. Based on the outcome, beekeepers can plan the optimal placement of the apiary and change it in the case of need. The Python language was used for the model development. Model can be extended to use additional factors and values to increase the precision for field resource evaluation. In addition, input from users (farmers, agricultural specialists, etc.) about external factors, that can affect the apiary location can be taken into account. This work is conducted within the Horizon 2020 FET project HIVEOPOLIS (Nr.824069 – Futuristic beehives for a smart metropolis).