This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project is to develop a broad band detection system for air toxicity. Our overall objective is to show that honey bee orientation and locomotor behaviors can be used as reliable and measurable indicators of certain airborne toxicants. Locomotor… More

This project's objective is to develop honey bee colonies as broad band, wide area detectors of airborne toxicants. Phase I focused on identifying behavioral endpoints that assess the locomotor and task solving performance of 'exposed' foragers returning to the hive. Preliminary results indicate… More

This project is aimed at helping protect crop productivity by providing a means of rapidly assessing the health of bee colonies used for pollination. We propose research leading to the design of a hand-held device that could scan a honey bee colony, and quickly indicate the condition of that colony.… More

Beekeeping is a billion dollar industry, of which honey production plays only a small part. Most beekeepers make their money with crop pollination, charging up to $120 per hive for this service. Crop growers want healthy, strong colonies. It takes a skilled beekeeper about 10 minutes to inspect a… More