Everyone has part of the concept right, but the full answer is not in -- 
for some very good reasons.


First, some background:

I know Joe Riley, got DARPA to fly him over for a tracking workshop in TX, 
then had him up to MT. He has some interesting data.  The best is the 
foraging data by larger bees wearing smaller (fragile) tags (i.e., 
bumblebees).  These bees were left to free forage -- no targets, syrup, 
etc.  And the data shows things that one might expect -- bumblebees will 
follow topographic features such as a line left by mowing of fields/meadows.

Much of the honey bee work was done with a bee carrying a number disc to 
which was ADDED a tracking chip and vertical antenna.  The weight is 
significant, much less the aerodynamics of the whole things.

We've also flown chips on bees.  And we've tracked bees with lasers -- no 
chips at all.

Bottom line, carrying a large device with a vertical OR trailing antenna is 
tricky -- we gave up on our own chips -- decided that the chips had too 
much effect on bee flight -- it limits their ability to turn, etc.  And 
grabbing them to put the things on is EXTREMELY disruptive.

So we now track bees without using anything attached to the bee.

Our laser maps of bees searching for targets by odor can be seen online 
(Optics Express 13 5853).  Look for all of the articles by Joe Shaw on the 
use of LIDAR and lasers.

The LIDAR used in the published trials is big, expensive, and non-eye 
safe.  It also can't distinguish one small moving thing from another -- a 
seed head on a blade of grass moving in the wind from a flying insect.

We've now got new, far smaller, eye-safe systems that are being tested at 
the moment.  These have two years of R&D in them already.  They work -- and 
most importantly, the new systems see bees and ONLY bees.  Anything else, 
small or large, moving or static does not appear in the imaging.

We'll be field testing prototypes for commercialization this summer.

In addition, we have several years of data that demonstrate that the 
sensitivity of the olfactory system of a bee is in the same ball park as 
that of a dog, and that there are many similarities.  Both can generalize 
to a suite of related substances, when trained on a common component.  Both 
can detect a broad array of chemicals -- for bees, its not just pheromones 
and floral scents.  And, most importantly, NO ONE knows just how good the 
olfactory sensitivity of either the bee or the dog is.  Why?  Because we 
don't have instruments as good!  We have to collect samples for long 
periods to get enough material for detection (often several minutes up to 
1/2 hr).  The bees and dogs instantly recognize odors at the same levels.

So, in the case of our Ft Leonard Wood trials, bees could find all 
explosives by searching for the odor of DNT, even though that wasn't the 
main ingredient of some of the things that were buried.  MEASURED vapor 
levels directly ABOVE the buried landmine(s) were in the order of 5-15 
parts per trillion -- determined by collected 30 minute vapor samples -- so 
that's an average.  Also, keep in mind, landmines don't have any reward AND 
our conditioning occurs at the hive, not in the field.  I for one have no 
interest in strolling through mine fields to look for bees.

Both our video and the lasers show bees locking on and tracking odor plume 
from these vapor sources from many yards away.  That means, using even the 
most conservative plume models, that the bees were recognizing vapor trails 
in the parts per quadrillion or less.

Now, if these huge numbers (actually incredibly small amounts, its the 
ratio of target odor to air volume that are so large) are hard to grasp, go 
to the MegaPenny Project Site for illustrations that put this into 
perspective http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/

Ok, so we know bees can detect all kinds of odors at VERY LOW levels.  Now, 
under an Army Contract to our private company, we've been working on bee 
behavioral responses to very low concentrations of potentially harmful 
chemicals (but we're working at concentrations below the lethal level to 
bees).  The results have been amazing -- so much so that we've filed for 
patent.  We've found that bees respond in LESS than 30 seconds to a large 
array (we're still working to find the limits) of chemicals.  But, here's 
the  reason we've gone to patenting.  When exposed, in less than 30 
seconds, we get an ALARM that the event has happened  AND  we get a 
signature that is chemical specific.  In other words, the bees can tell us 
what the chemical was.

Now, as per painting bees, gluing things on with adhesives that volatize 
off solvents, etc. -- since the bees are SO sensitive to vapors, you can 
more or less fry their olfactory system (overload it), at least for the 
short term.

So, here's the rub.  Their olfactory systems respond to levels of chemicals 
that we can't measure (at least not in the short time interval that a bee 
can detect them).  These chemicals have profound effects on their 
behavior.  This we have on solid evidence -- hundreds of trials, all sorts 
of chemicals, chemical sampling with conventional instruments run in parallel.

We also are convinced (and we can't fully answer this conjecture until we 
have the new lasers and some serious field time with them) that hanging 
anything on a bee may drastically alter bee flight, including orientation.

And, our bias is that any use of a food reward - near the area that you 
think that a dance might be sending bees- invalidates the experiment.  We 
use food as a reward, but at the hive.  (Well, within a few yards of 
it).  If the dance is sending foragers out to the food source -- they 
should all end up at the feeder dish beside the hive.  There's no food 
anywhere near the things that we get them to search for.  Why would the 
dance send them to a non-producing 'food' source.

And finally, the probability that one of our trained bees will find any 
target emitting a NON-FOOD odor in the parts per billion vapor range is 
greater than 99%.  At parts per trillion, its usually better than 
95-98%.   Even if the dance helps, we'd only get a few % points 
improvement.   For all of our work, 90% or more of the discovery of these 
unconventional targets (no food and not an odor that you'd expect bees to 
be able to discriminate) relies on odor and odor alone.  And our reward 
dispensing feeder are NEVER near the targets.  The dance, if it does what 
people contend, should be working against us.  We should be seeing all of 
the bees at our conditioning trays, if they were being directed by a 
dance.  Why look elsewhere?

Jerry

P.S.  What does the dance do?  Frankly, I don't know.  But I do know, the 
bees don't need it to direct foraging.













-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---