Sensor-Based Behavior Analysis and Modeling for the Honeybee Superorganism: A Platform

For the last twenty years, the mortality of honeybee colonies has been increasing and is now a major concern for biologists. There have been a number of hypotheses put forth in the literature, including hives' infestation with parasites like Varroa destructor, the appearance of new predators like Asian hornets (Vespa Velutina) or small hive beetles and widespread use of pesticides. In addition, climate and environmental changes are modifying the honeybee's interaction with its ecosystem. Last works suggest that this mortality could be due not to a single reason, but to a convergence of stress factors. This article presents the development of an experimental platform dedicated to track the honeybee colony (Apis mellifera) health in parallel with the quantification of the main environmental stressors. Our main objective is to provide biologists with a paraphernalia that is primarily based on motion analyses with different sensors inside and outside the hive for the study of bees' behavior at both individual (the bee) as well as a colony (the superorganism) scales. The aim is to create a reference dataset of behaviors associated with environmental factors in both normal and stressful environments.