Honeybee ( Apis spp.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Colony Monitoring Using Acoustic Signals from the Beehive: An Assessment by Global Experts and Our Feedback

Muhammad Zahid Sharif (), Nayan Di and Baizhong Yu
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Muhammad Zahid Sharif: Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Nayan Di: Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Baizhong Yu: Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-24

Abstract: Because the sounds emitted by a managed honeybee colony embrace a wealth of information about the status within and outside the beehive, researchers are interested in developing a beehive sound-based assessment of the colony situation. However, how the global experts rank this approach is unclear. We assessed the importance of beehive sound-based colony monitoring using formal expert elicitation. Our results indicate that policy-making bodies should focus on a non-invasive acoustic approach to monitor swarming, honeybee health, pesticides, and environmental pollution at apiaries, as these were considered very important factors with high confidence by global experts. Moreover, all other factors (pests and pathogens, weather conditions, predators, food availability, and spatiotemporal patterns) are rated as important, but experts’ confidence in acoustically monitoring a few of the factors differs. Because experienced forager bees emit bursting sounds during the waggle dance (particularly during the waggle-run phase) at a specific angle on a vertical comb within the hive, we propose an acoustics-based recording setup using a Raspberry Pi and a QuadMic Array to investigate how this sound can predict the spatial and temporal information of the available food sources. In this article, we highlight how the factors falling into the inconclusive category of confidence have the potential to be acoustically monitored. Besides, this paper suggests new and unexplored directions for opening a window for future research in beehive acoustics.

Keywords: beehive acoustics; colony status; factors monitoring; expert elicitation; importance and confidence; new directions; acoustics-recording setup; spatiotemporal information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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