bees
bee_monitoring_workshops

1. The Theory + Reading List
2. The new BeeHives + ObservationBeehives
3. The Data Harvesting (Technology)
4. The Artworks and Projects
5. The HoneyComb

In the context of the TIK project, OKNO wants to delve deeper into the relation of (city)honeybees and time.

We want to research the biological time of the bee colony , and find out how we can relate this bee clock - or the circadian clock of the honeybees- to the TIK server.

Workshop 1 / developping the plan (3 + 4 february 2011)
Workshop 2 / executing the plan (23+24+25 march)

During the first workshop we should develop the blueprint of the augmented beehive. During these 2 work/discussion-days, all topics should be covered and worked out on paper. We’ll wrap up the workshop with a workable plan, a diagram, a list of all actions to take, all the components to order, every electronic part to implement, every connection to the network to make … Also to discuss (before, online): do we build a specific model of beehive, or do we stick to the traditional ones?

We are busy yet building some modular 3D models (maquettes), based onVoronoi algorithms. We will also present some virtual 3D models in scetch up or blender - open for discussion. Can we build bee-appartments? Can we build shelters for the bees in need?

Bee life is immediately linked to OpenGreens. The presence of melliferous plants is extremely important in every season.
Below you can find some sites with a list of good honeyplants, their blooming period and their pollen and nactoar values:
http://www.imkerpedia.nl/wiki/index.php/Drachtplanten
http://www.drachtplanten.nl/#hghgghghh0
http://www.konvib.eu/bijenweide-hoe-imkeren.html

Karl von Frisch, Nobelprize Physiology in 1973, did some extensive research on bee behaviour and communication: perception (optical), power of orientation, flight patterns, internal clock …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Frisch#Bee_Perception

With the bees as our guides, we want to delve into the biology of time. Therefore we'll research behaviour of the honeybee/ honeybee colony via their encoded time (or biological time) in a 24 hours cycle.
Would bees adapt their behaviour if disturbed by external stimuli?

We will link the findings of these observations (the data out of the sensors) to the TIK server, and we'll study how to transpose the data into artworks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm for the definition of circadian clock.

very important for the bees
only 4 different colors in the whole spectrum of hues
some research on bee vision

Responses to light under varying magnetic conditions in the honeybee, Apis mellifera
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l136424741606414/

Reading through the original von Frisch texts, I wanted an update on the by now more than half a century old research.
Now, it was for centuries widely believed that bees don't hear but that seems to be wrong!
This is an interesting sciam article: http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/bee_dance_2.htm
And maybe it is good to find out more about how practically these sound experiments with bees (infrasonic mostly it seems) were done.
Also it was surprising to find out about robotic bees researchers are using for experimentation.
A note: in our overview we should maybe also apart from hearing start with a section on ”how do bees generate sound”?

(very important)
feromones/smell guides the bee in het activities inside the (dark) hive
flower constancy / selective pollination → bee is guided by the specific scent of a specific flower

Scary but true: in Harvard University they are working on a colony of robotic bees, the robobees.
http://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/

University of Dundee, Scotland :
an investigation into the synergistic impact of sublethal exposure to industrial chemicals on the learning capacity and performance of bees
urban pollinators: ecology and conservation
unravelling the impact of the mite Varroa destructor on the interaction between the honeybee and its viruses

articles related to sound/analysis as indication for swarming
http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/adrian-wenner/sound-communication-in-honey-bees/sound-communication-in-honey-bees-support-material/
http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/apidictor/
http://www.inia.es/gcontrec/pub/824-828_(261-08)_SC._Platform_1259836054156.pdf
3D images reveal life inside a live hive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8682000/8682842.stm

Darrell Moore and Patrick Doherty: Acquisition of a time-memory in forager honey bees. In: Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, Vol. 159, No. 8, August 2009, pp. 741-751. (no free access / with library subscription only)

Stephen C. Pratt: Collective control of the timing and type of comb construction by honey bees (Apis mellifera). In: Apidologie, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2004, pp. 193-205. Online at: http://www.apidologie.org/articles/apido/pdf/2004/02/M4205.pdf (pdf) [last accessed: April 26, 2010].

Max Renner: The Clock of the Bees. Natural History Magazine, October 1959. Vol. 68, pp. 434-440.

Max Renner: The Contribution of the Honey Bee to the Study of Time-Sense and Astronomical Orientation. In: Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. New York, Long Island Biological Association, 1960. Vol. 25, pp. 361-368.

Peter Skorupski and Lars Chittka: Animal Cognition: An Insect’s Sense of Time? In: Current Biology. Vol. 16, Issue 19, October 2006, pp. R851-R853. Online at: http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/2006/SkorupskiChittka06.pdf (pdf) [last accessed: April 26, 2010].

Peter Skorupski, Johannes Spaethe and Lars Chittka: Visual Search and Decision Making in Bees: Time, Speed, and Accuracy. In: International Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2006, pp. 342-357. Online at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8jc9v56f (pdf download available)[last accessed: April 26, 2010].

The Dancing Bees, by Karl Von Frisch (first american edition, 1955 - translated from German, 1953):
an account of the life and senses of the Honey Bee by nobel prize winner Karl von Frisch

Animal Architects, James R. Gould & Carol Grant Gould :
Building and the Evolution of Intelligence / social insects