Honeybees play an essential role in pollinating over 80 crops, contributing an estimated $29 billion annually to U.S. agriculture. However, bee populations are rapidly declining due to various factors such as habitat loss, pesticide exposure, parasites, and climate change. Alarmingly, the U.S. lost over 55% of its honeybee colonies in the past year alone, a trend that threatens one-third of the food supply, which depends on pollination by bees.
Traditionally, beekeepers have relied on manual inspections and their judgment to monitor hive health, often leading to delays in detecting problems. To address this challenge, a team from UC Riverside has developed a groundbreaking technology that could help save honeybee colonies. The team created the Electronic Bee-Veterinarian (EBV), a sensor-based system that uses low-cost heat sensors and forecasting models to predict dangerous temperature changes within hives.
The EBV system provides early warnings to remote beekeepers, giving them the opportunity to intervene before their colonies are at risk from extreme weather, disease, pesticide exposure, food shortages, or other environmental stressors.
Shamima Hossain, a Ph.D. student in computer science at UCR and lead author of the study, explained that the EBV system translates temperature data into a “health factor,” which estimates the strength of a bee colony on a scale from zero to one. This simplified metric allows beekeepers to quickly assess the health of their hives. Honeybees maintain a hive temperature between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius (91.4–96.8°F) for proper brood development and colony survival.
The EBV technology utilizes thermal diffusion equations and control theory, making the predictions both understandable for scientists and accessible to beekeepers. By collecting temperature data from affordable sensors inside the hive, the system uses an algorithm to predict hive conditions several days in advance.
During tests at UCR’s apiary, the EBV system first analyzed data from 10 hives and later expanded to 25. The system has proven effective in detecting conditions that require beekeeper intervention. Hossain recalled, “When I looked at the dashboard and saw the health factor drop below an empirical threshold, I contacted our apiary manager. When we checked the hive, we found something wrong, and they could take action to manage the situation.”
Hyosung Kim, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCR, emphasized the importance of keeping the costs below $50 per hive. “Commercial sensors exist, but they are too expensive,” Kim said. “We decided to create a very affordable device using off-the-shelf components so that beekeepers can afford it.”
The research team is now working on the next phase, which will involve developing automated hive climate controls. These systems will respond to EBV’s predictions by automatically adjusting the temperature within the hive.
“Right now, we can only issue warnings,” Hossain said. “But in the next phase, we are designing a system that can automatically heat or cool the hive when needed.”
This new technology offers hope for preserving honeybee colonies, ensuring that the critical role of pollination continues to support agriculture for years to come.
By Impact Lab
