PhD project in Investigation of a honeybee reflex arc for non-invasive colony status assessment

Overview

In 2024 we carefully quantitated a method allowing the probing of some aspects of the physiological status of a honeybee colony (see References).

The method consists of providing the colony, at randomised times, with an ultra short, weak vibrational shock wave that results in (i) the immobilisation of the individuals for a fraction of a second, followed by (ii) the individuals buzzing their wings, resulting in either whooping signals and/or an overall buzzing response for 2 to 10 seconds.

The shock wave is provided with an electromagnetic shaker attached to the hive, and the colony’s responses are recorded e.g. by means of an accelerometer inserted inside the colony. The measurement is fully automated by means of using a computer.

The immobilisation phenomenon is causing a drop in the measured colony’s vibration, and in this project you will use this to provide non-invasive measurements of the individuals’ mobility all through the year.

The buzzing and the whooping signals are measured with an amplitude which varies in the day, and in the year. In this project you will explore and provide more detailed insight into the physiological status changes that this separate measurement is allowing. To do this, you will use a very small colony on a single frame, in an observation hive, which you will video record from both sides. You will be able to change the physiological status of the small colony and correlate the response changes and repeat the procedure on several colonies.

Your work will involve working with honeybees, computers, and measurement devices which you will assemble and test. You will write simple programs to run and analyse the measurements. You will provide scientific breakthroughs in the fundamental understanding of this particular phenomenon which is remarkably similar to the reflex arcs observed in many mammals. In doing so, numerous applications will be made available to beekeepers and scientists.

Supervisor

Martin Bencsik

Application deadline

Applications open year round