Another way to record foraging range is to mark foragers where they are
foraging, then observe at the nest and note which marks appear. Norm Gary
attached little iron discs to a bee's thorax (at the foraging location) and
placed a good magnet at the nest entrance. The magnet snagged the marked bees
who then wriggled off the disc. It saved having to observe (and catch) bees at
the entrance. Of course now you might do it with bar codes.
(Since Norm's work, I ran into a system used for tracking salmon, which might be
adapted. A fine wire (probably stainless steel, maybe not magnetic) has a
sequence of lines on it like a bar code. A piece  2 or 3 mm long is embedded in
the nose cartilage of young salmon (5 cm). Years later, the piece can be
recovered from adult fish (metal detector then cut the piece of head in half and
check again) and info gathered about the migration route, growth etc. Anyway,
these little pieces of wire could easily be carried by a bee.
 
good hunting
 
Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
1201 103 Ave
Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (604) 784-2225     fax (604) 784-2299
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