At 07:14 AM 1/17/98 -0600, you wrote:
>At 09:15 PM 1/16/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>You are invited to examine daily flight activity and internal hive
>>temperatures for seven hives as well as weather conditions over a two week
>>period at the University of Montana's Electronic Apiary in Missoula,
Montana.
>>
>It sounds interesting but where is it?
 
http://grizzly.umt.edu/biology/bees  (sorry)
 
>
>Could you also comment on what the DOD's interest is in bees and
>beekeeping?  (I saw the grant on your resume.)
>
 
The DOD is interested in whether bees can be used to help survey large
areas for the presence of biologically available environmental
contaminants.  The goal is to provide cost-effective tools to ensure a
safer environment.  For example, we place bees at military landfills to
determine whether any contaminants are being released or to decide whether
removal of materials or capping of the dump has successfully contained the
harmful materials.  We are sponsored by the U.S. Army Center for
Environmental Health Research, formerly U.S. Army Biomedical Research
Development Laboratory.
 
You can read about the DOD sponsored work in the January 16 (this week's)
issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education (should be available at all U.S.
college and University Libraries and some hospitals);  the December, 1997
issue of National Audubon;  the June 10, 1997 issue of The Christian
Science Monitor, Vol 89, No. 136, p. 12;  The Weekly Newsmagazine of
Science, Science News, Vol. 151, No. 21, pages 313-326; and in the May
issue of Ranger Rick.
 
All of these articles are copyright by the magazines.  Therefore I can not
scan and post them to the list.  Although most of these are U.S.
publications, it is my understanding that The Christian Science Monitor
article went worldwide.
 
Our mission is to provide better tools to protect the health and welfare of
the environment and of people.  Bees can provide an invaluable service as a
form of miner's canary.  Miner's used to carry canaries to warn of the
presence of toxic gases.  We do much the same with our bees.  Whereas the
canary fell off its perch, our bees respond in similar ways such as fewer
bees returning to the hive than went out (the normal return rate is about
94-96%) for a healthy hive or drops in core temperature as the bees fail to
properly thermoregulate.
 
Most beekeepers have seen a massive loss of bees from pesticides or mites
(either piles of dead bees in front of a hive, or few bees in the hive).
We can tell you if the return rate drops off by even a small percentage,
and we can tell you if that change occurred at a specific time of day or
trailed out across the day.  Our system is so sensitive, we can tell you if
someone has been standing in front of the hive and when.
 
If you look at our site, find a day when the weather was variable
(thunderstorms), then look at the flight activity for the same day.
 
Eventually, you will be able to cross-link graphs (i.e., weather, hive
temperatures, flight activity).  At this point in time, you will have to
capture the appropriate graphs and then compare them.
 
Jerry
 
>Thanks,
>
>Tom
>
>--------------------------------------------------------
>2 hives in Northern Illinois
>
>
Jerry J. Bromenshenk, Ph.D.
Director, DOE/EPSCoR & Montana Organization for Research in Energy
The University of Montana-Missoula
Missoula, MT  59812-1002
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:  406-243-5648
Fax:  406-243-4184