Mike said:
we would need response chips small enough to be easily carried by flying
bees and strong enough to respond to a radio signal or a radar signal from
a good distance away. There would also have to be enough detections units
to saturate an area around the hive of the tagged bees.
The radio or RFID chip approach has been used. There are three problems
with this approach: 1) size of chip - even the smallest chip may influence
flight behavior, especially how far a bee will fly and how able they are to
change direction, maneuver 2) limited range - small chip = small antenna
(although there are new, smaller, more powerful chips being developed
every day) and enabling technologies like a fractal antenna (we once
electro-plated an antennae on the back of a bees) are being developed, but 3) enough
chips to saturate an area; this is the big problem, anyone want to
volunteer to clues hundreds or thousands of chips on bees?.
I should also note that there are researchers who will dispute the affect
of RFIDs on bee flight, but our testing showed significant alterations in
flight, especially how far a bee would fly, how well it could fly, and
whether it was willing to attempt to make a turn. These chips have worked
better on larger insects, like bumblebees. Still, there are newer chips that
may have solved the flight problems. I have seen reports on better chips
from Europe and the US - but haven't had a chance to test any of the more
recent chip designs.
By the way, I assume most on this list know that the plural of insect
antenna and pf radio antenna are not the same.
We put one of the first chips on a bee (~ 2002), saw the limitations of
chips. That's why we've gone to a chipless locating, mapping, and tracking
system. I now finally have (as of last fall) two lasers that can detect
honey bees by their wing beat frequency, locate and map the position of each
bee across a field, with a placement accuracy of a few inches or centimeters.
Our instruments can each sweep across an area of up to 180 degrees.
Placed back to back, they can canvas 360 degrees. They can also be placed to
scan side by side, scan perpendicular to each other, or scan end to end
(sweep range).
The biggest problem is eye-safety. So, we reduce the energy of the
lasers, restrict them for most scans to a range of 150 yards (meters). We have
used lasers that can detect and map bees up to 1 mile (1.6 km) away, but
these instruments can only be used in restricted access areas due to the fact
that they are not eye safe. Some years ago, one could use a powerful laser
on a DoD installation like Sandia labs - but even DOE and DOD have gotten
very restrictive about non eye-safe lasers due to accidents involving
soldiers using lasers. In an agricultural setting, we have to ensure
eye-safety. Just can't take the chance that someone up to a mile away might wander
into the path of the beam and look into the light. At 150 yards or meters,
we can see if someone wanders in - and our lasers are eye-safe by that
distance.
Jerry
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm
|
