Bee amounts are dwindling, especially in the united kingdom, and that’s bad media for pretty much everyone who eats food. A team of researchers from Lancaster College or university have hatched a plan to boost figures with 3D branded bee homes, that they hope to disperse to the general public as part of a bee-awareness outreach work.
The researchers took good thing about the increased affinity for nature through the pandemic and also have designed the world’s first webcam-equipped “BeeBox”, that may not only encourage visitors to show some bee-love, but will also allow researchers to get insights of bee-life never before seen.
The bee-homes, which is printed with plastic, are designed to be mounted on trees and shrubs or on the floor, as different bees have inclination to surviving in trees and shrubs or at ground level.
“One of my biggest bugbears about bee conservation is that people are always planting more food on their behalf, but almost never doing any work on providing nesting sites for crazy bees. These beeboxes will address that for agricultural and urban areas.” said Dr Philip Donkersley, bee specialist at Lancaster School.
You can view the branded BeeBox in the picture below.
They are made to give a comfortable environment for queen bees, so their hives will develop. Usage of pesticides in inexperienced areas and extensive agricultural processes in the united kingdom has resulted in decline of almost all of the UK’s 25 local kinds of bee.
Thanks to curiosity about beekeeping lately, the honeybee is the one bee in the UK that has increased in inhabitants. The others are in decline, with eight being endangered, and the united states has seen the extinction of two bee types within the last 80 years.
“This idea of ‘save the bees’ is extremely popular at this time with the general public,” said Donkersley.
“That is about capitalising on that. Everyone is aware that bees are in big trouble. This is a means you can immediately help [bumblebees] and also get something out of it, because you can view them and discover what they are doing.”
The researchers have previously setup four prototypes on a farm, and also have been monitoring the bee activity via infrared webcam (so there is no need to light up the pack with obvious light).
You will see videos at the job channel as of this link.
The BeeBoxes are durable and strong enough to avoid the outside, and can therefore be developed in a variety of places, even buried underground.