High accuracy monitoring of honey bee colony development by a quantitative method

Nuno Capela; Yoko Luise Dupont; Agnes Rortais; Arthur Sarmento; Alexandra Papanikolaou; Christopher John Topping; Gérard Arnold; M. Alice Pinto; Pedro J. Rodrigues; Simon J. More; Simone Tosi; Thiago Alves; José Paulo Sousa

doi:10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899

High accuracy monitoring of honey bee colony development by a quantitative method

Nuno Capela, Yoko Luise Dupont, Agnes Rortais, Arthur Sarmento, Alexandra Papanikolaou, Christopher John Topping, Gérard Arnold, M. Alice Pinto, Pedro J. Rodrigues, Simon J. More, Simone Tosi, Thiago Alves, José Paulo Sousa

Department of Ecoscience - Biodiversity and Conservation

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Honey bees are key insect pollinators, providing important economic and ecological value
for human beings and ecosystems. This has triggered the development of several monitoring
methods for assessing the temporal development of colony size, food storage, brood
and pathogens. Nonetheless, most of these methods are based on visual assessments that
are observer-dependent and prone to bias. Furthermore, the impact on colony development
(invasiveness), as well as accuracy, were rarely considered when implementing new methods.
In this study, we present and test a novel accurate and observer-independent method for
honey bee colony assessment, capable of being fully standardized. Honey bee colony size is
quantified by assessing the weight of adult bees, while brood and provision are assessed by
taking photos and conducting image analysis of the combs with the image analysis software
DeepbeeVR . The invasiveness and accuracy of the method were investigated using field data
from two experimental apiaries in Portugal, comparing results from test and control colonies.
At the end of each field experiment, most of the tested colonies had the same colony size,
brood levels and honey production as the control colonies. Nonetheless, continuous weight
data indicated some disturbance in tested colonies in the first year of monitoring. The overall
accuracy of the image analysis software was improved by training, indicating that it is
possible to adapt the software to local conditions. We conclude that the use of this fully
quantitative method offers a more accurate alternative to classic visual colony assessments,
with negligible impact on colony development.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Apicultural Research
Volume	62
Issue	4
Pages (from-to)	741-750
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0021-8839
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899
Publication status	Published - 2023

Keywords

Apis mellifera
brood development
colony monitoring
colony size
colony strength

Access to Document

10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899

1 Active
2 Finished

SESS: Social-Ecological Systems Simulation centre
Topping, C. J. (PI), Williams, J. H. (Participant), Duan, X. (Participant), Dupont, Y. L. (Participant), Groom, G. B. (Participant), Chetcuti, J. (Participant), Marcussen, L. K. (Participant), Mølgaard, N. (Participant), Thomsen, P. (Participant), Andersen, A. H. (Participant), Poulsen, T. (Participant), Alison, J. (Participant), Capela, N. (Participant), Nafisi, S. (Participant), Ziolkowska, E. (Participant), Eriksen, B. D. (Participant), Xie, L. (Participant) & Torma, G. (Participant)
10/12/2020 → …
Project: Research
Research project on field data collection for honey bee colony model evaluation
Dupont, Y. L. (PI)
31/05/2018 → 31/05/2021
Project: Research
ApisRAM: Developing a honey bee model for regulatory risk assessment for EFSA
Topping, C. J. (PI) & Duan, X. (Participant)
08/03/2017 → 08/10/2021
Project: Research

4 Citations
1 Journal article

Exploring the External Environmental Drivers of Honey Bee Colony Development
Capela, N., Sarmento, A., Simöes, S., Lopes, S., Castro, S., Antonio, A. D. S., Alves, J., Dupont, Y. L., de Graaf, D. C. & Sousa, J. P., Nov 2023, In: Diversity. 15, 12, 14 p., 1188.
Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Open Access

1 Citation (Scopus)

Cite this

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title = "High accuracy monitoring of honey bee colony development by a quantitative method",

abstract = "Honey bees are key insect pollinators, providing important economic and ecological valuefor human beings and ecosystems. This has triggered the development of several monitoringmethods for assessing the temporal development of colony size, food storage, broodand pathogens. Nonetheless, most of these methods are based on visual assessments thatare observer-dependent and prone to bias. Furthermore, the impact on colony development(invasiveness), as well as accuracy, were rarely considered when implementing new methods.In this study, we present and test a novel accurate and observer-independent method forhoney bee colony assessment, capable of being fully standardized. Honey bee colony size isquantified by assessing the weight of adult bees, while brood and provision are assessed bytaking photos and conducting image analysis of the combs with the image analysis softwareDeepbeeVR . The invasiveness and accuracy of the method were investigated using field datafrom two experimental apiaries in Portugal, comparing results from test and control colonies.At the end of each field experiment, most of the tested colonies had the same colony size,brood levels and honey production as the control colonies. Nonetheless, continuous weightdata indicated some disturbance in tested colonies in the first year of monitoring. The overallaccuracy of the image analysis software was improved by training, indicating that it ispossible to adapt the software to local conditions. We conclude that the use of this fullyquantitative method offers a more accurate alternative to classic visual colony assessments,with negligible impact on colony development.",

keywords = "Apis mellifera, colony strength, colony size, brood development, colony monitoring, Apis mellifera, brood development, colony monitoring, colony size, colony strength",

author = "Nuno Capela and Dupont, {Yoko Luise} and Agnes Rortais and Arthur Sarmento and Alexandra Papanikolaou and Topping, {Christopher John} and G{\'e}rard Arnold and Pinto, {M. Alice} and {J. Rodrigues}, Pedro and {J. More}, Simon and Simone Tosi and Thiago Alves and Sousa, {Jos{\'e} Paulo}",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899",

language = "English",

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pages = "741--750",

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T1 - High accuracy monitoring of honey bee colony development by a quantitative method

AU - Capela, Nuno

AU - Dupont, Yoko Luise

AU - Rortais, Agnes

AU - Sarmento, Arthur

AU - Papanikolaou, Alexandra

AU - Topping, Christopher John

AU - Arnold, Gérard

AU - Pinto, M. Alice

AU - J. Rodrigues, Pedro

AU - J. More, Simon

AU - Tosi, Simone

AU - Alves, Thiago

AU - Sousa, José Paulo

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Honey bees are key insect pollinators, providing important economic and ecological valuefor human beings and ecosystems. This has triggered the development of several monitoringmethods for assessing the temporal development of colony size, food storage, broodand pathogens. Nonetheless, most of these methods are based on visual assessments thatare observer-dependent and prone to bias. Furthermore, the impact on colony development(invasiveness), as well as accuracy, were rarely considered when implementing new methods.In this study, we present and test a novel accurate and observer-independent method forhoney bee colony assessment, capable of being fully standardized. Honey bee colony size isquantified by assessing the weight of adult bees, while brood and provision are assessed bytaking photos and conducting image analysis of the combs with the image analysis softwareDeepbeeVR . The invasiveness and accuracy of the method were investigated using field datafrom two experimental apiaries in Portugal, comparing results from test and control colonies.At the end of each field experiment, most of the tested colonies had the same colony size,brood levels and honey production as the control colonies. Nonetheless, continuous weightdata indicated some disturbance in tested colonies in the first year of monitoring. The overallaccuracy of the image analysis software was improved by training, indicating that it ispossible to adapt the software to local conditions. We conclude that the use of this fullyquantitative method offers a more accurate alternative to classic visual colony assessments,with negligible impact on colony development.

AB - Honey bees are key insect pollinators, providing important economic and ecological valuefor human beings and ecosystems. This has triggered the development of several monitoringmethods for assessing the temporal development of colony size, food storage, broodand pathogens. Nonetheless, most of these methods are based on visual assessments thatare observer-dependent and prone to bias. Furthermore, the impact on colony development(invasiveness), as well as accuracy, were rarely considered when implementing new methods.In this study, we present and test a novel accurate and observer-independent method forhoney bee colony assessment, capable of being fully standardized. Honey bee colony size isquantified by assessing the weight of adult bees, while brood and provision are assessed bytaking photos and conducting image analysis of the combs with the image analysis softwareDeepbeeVR . The invasiveness and accuracy of the method were investigated using field datafrom two experimental apiaries in Portugal, comparing results from test and control colonies.At the end of each field experiment, most of the tested colonies had the same colony size,brood levels and honey production as the control colonies. Nonetheless, continuous weightdata indicated some disturbance in tested colonies in the first year of monitoring. The overallaccuracy of the image analysis software was improved by training, indicating that it ispossible to adapt the software to local conditions. We conclude that the use of this fullyquantitative method offers a more accurate alternative to classic visual colony assessments,with negligible impact on colony development.

KW - Apis mellifera

KW - colony strength

KW - colony size

KW - brood development

KW - colony monitoring

KW - Apis mellifera

KW - brood development

KW - colony monitoring

KW - colony size

KW - colony strength

U2 - 10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899

DO - 10.1080/00218839.2022.2098899

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0021-8839

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SP - 741

EP - 750

JO - Journal of Apicultural Research

JF - Journal of Apicultural Research

IS - 4

ER -

High accuracy monitoring of honey bee colony development by a quantitative method

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

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Projects

SESS: Social-Ecological Systems Simulation centre

Research project on field data collection for honey bee colony model evaluation

ApisRAM: Developing a honey bee model for regulatory risk assessment for EFSA

Research output

Exploring the External Environmental Drivers of Honey Bee Colony Development

Cite this