Application of continuous monitoring of honeybee colonies

Abstract

Monitoring physical variables associated with honeybee colonies, including weight, temperature, humidity, respiratory gases, vibration, sound, and forager traffic, in a continuous manner is becoming feasible for most researchers as the cost and size of electronic sensors decrease while their precision and capacity increase. Researchers have taken different approaches to collecting and analyzing the resulting datasets, with a view toward extracting information on colony behavior and phenology. The objective of this review is to examine critically the different kinds of data and data analyses, providing researchers with better-informed options for obtaining information on colony phenology in the field without disturbing the hive, and for combining information from different kinds of sensors to obtain a more complete picture of colony status. Wireless sensor networks and powering sensors are briefly discussed.