蜂群健康之量化評估

Abstract

蜜蜂是自然界中極為重要的授粉者，在各種農作物品種中約有三分之一仰賴蜜蜂授粉。自2006年，全球蜂群因不明原因數量銳減，導致嚴重的農業與經濟損失，此現象正式被命名為蜂群崩潰症候群，這樣的背景凸顯了瞭解蜂群健康狀況與量化蜂群健康狀況的重要性。另外，由於外勤蜂負責主要的資源採集，其活動力與狀態和蜂群健康有相當程度的關聯性，因此，本研究針對外勤蜂出入巢活動進行紀錄並量化其行為進行蜂群健康指標之評估。 本研究基於已開發之蜂群行為監測系統(Bee Counter)進行資料收集，系統記錄每分鐘外勤蜂出入巢頻率及巢內外溫濕度等環境參數，實驗設計搭配傳統蜂蟹蟎防治監測方法進行比較與驗證，本研究蒐集兩次為期三週蜂蟹蟎防治實驗之監測資料。傳統評估蜂蟹蟎方法由秤重推估蜂勢消長，而本研究利用外勤蜂損耗率進行評估蜂勢之依據，評估內容包含外勤蜂損耗率在時域與頻域之波形狀況，並比較傳統的蜂勢評估結果與本研究方法之間的差異和相似之處。 本研究建立一自動化監測蜂群健康指標評估方法，與已開發之蜂群行為監測系統(Bee Counter)進行結合，能更有效地監測蜂群並予以量化資訊，提供養蜂人與相關研究人員客觀的蜂群行為數據，以利養蜂人員採取適當的飼養措施，相關研究人員亦能不再受限於傳統人力監測並提出更多實驗設計與想法。

Honey bees play an extremely important role as pollinators for various kinds of agricultural crops, and about one-third of daily food relies on honey bees’ pollination. Bee population has decreased significantly since 2006 when Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD) broke out. It leads to dramatic losses not only in the agricultural industry but also in the economy as a whole all over the world. This scenario highlights the importance of quantifying the honey bees’ behavior and examining the health condition of a honey bee colony. Moreover, previous studies have indicated that forager bees take charge of the bulk of food collection, and that their flight activities influence the health of the bee colony considerably. Therefore, this study focuses on monitoring and recording forager bees’ flight activities and then quantifying the data to evaluate the health condition of a bee colony. This study utilizes a honey bee monitoring system, called “Bee Counter”, to collect forager bees’ activities of entering and leaving their beehives. The monitoring system records flight activities of forager bees and real-time environmental variables, such as temperature and humidity, at the same time. Two experiments lasting for three weeks are used to examine the effectiveness of mite (Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans) control in four different treatments. A traditional method of mite control is to weight the colony to estimate the number of bees inside the beehive in the beginning and at the end of a period. Then, the growth or decline rate of the colony can be calculated. In contrast, the method proposed by this study analyzes the waveform of the residual rate of forager bees in the time domain and frequency domain to effectively evaluate the health situation of honey bee colony. The study also provides the comparison of the results of the two monitoring methods. In sum, this study proposes a quantitative health index for a honey bee colony. Combining with the developed honey bee monitoring system, Bee Counter, it would provide a better and effective monitoring method for every beekeeper. As a result, beekeepers can take a proper measure in advance to prevent dramatic losses of the colony, and scientists can improve experimental designs which were restricted when using traditional monitoring methods.