Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.1
2.7
Journals
Insects
Special Issues
Precision Apicultures
share announcement

Precision Apicultures

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Insects".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 3844

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. José Manuel Flores

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Córdoba, Campus of Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Interests: bee products; bee health; bee monitoring; precision apiculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Francisco J. Rodriguez-Lozano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Interests: precision apiculture; machine learning; monitoring systems; computer vision; embedded systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Honey bees are essential pollinators for environmental conservation and for many crops. In addition, beekeeping provides us with products such as honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly or wax, and it is an economic activity of interest for the development of rural areas. Honey bees are also frequently used as bioindicators of the environment. Unfortunately, the Western honey bee faces multiple threats and virtually all colonies are maintained by beekeepers. On the other hand, beekeeping is very low-tech. The growing application of new technologies can be a very interesting tool for the development of beekeeping and the conservation of honey bees. This is what is known as “precision apiculture”. The objective of this Special Issue of the journal Insects is to provide the latest advances in precision apiculture, through contributions on electronic designs and monitoring systems to assess variables in honey bee hives, such as bee hive status, colony health, productivity evaluation, warnings and alarms in bee hives; predictive studies; the use of bees as environmental bioindicators; and any other topic that contributes to improving our knowledge of bees, their conservation, productivity or their use for understanding the environment.

Prof. Dr. José Manuel Flores
Dr. Francisco J. Rodriguez-Lozano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • impact of precision apiculture on beekeeping
  • electronic designs for honey bee colony monitoring
  • remote monitoring systems for beekeeping
  • artificial intelligence applied to bee colony parameters
  • precision apiculture for environmental study

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 5817 KiB  
Article
Morphological Comparisons of Adult Worker Bees Developed in Chinese and Italian Honey Bee Combs
by Shunhua Yang, Hui Li, Pingqing Wu, Dan Yue, Yulong Guo, Wenzheng Zhao and Kun Dong
Insects 2025, 16(1), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16010104 - 20 Jan 2025
Viewed by 516
Abstract
The size of comb cells is a key factor influencing the body size of honey bee workers. Comb cells and the body size of Chinese honey bee workers are smaller than those of Italian honey bee workers. To increase the size of Chinese [...] Read more.
The size of comb cells is a key factor influencing the body size of honey bee workers. Comb cells and the body size of Chinese honey bee workers are smaller than those of Italian honey bee workers. To increase the size of Chinese honey bee workers, this study used newly built combs from Chinese honey bee colonies (control group) and Italian honey bee colonies (treatment group). These combs were provided to Chinese honey bee colonies for queens to lay fertilized eggs with the aim of rearing larger workers. Workers emerging from the control and treatment combs were designated as control and treatment workers, respectively. We compared 13 external morphological traits, including right forewing length and width; linear length of veins a, b, c, and d; proboscis length; right hind femur length; tibia length; metatarsal length and width; and the longitudinal diameters of the third and fourth tergites between the two groups. The results identified six types of cell contents in the combs, excluding empty cells: capped honey (most abundant), followed by capped brood, uncapped honey, and smaller amounts of pollen, larvae, and eggs. Additionally, the average body weights of 6-day-old worker bee larvae, white-eyed pupae, adult worker bees, and honey stomachs containing sucrose solution were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Except for proboscis length, the average size of 12 out of 13 traits in the treatment group was significantly larger than in the control group, indicating that increasing cell size can produce larger Chinese honey bee workers. In the control group, only the left forewing was significantly shorter than the right, with no significant side-to-side differences in the other morphological traits. In the treatment group, the left forewing width, hind leg femur length, tibia length, and hind leg metatarsus width were significantly smaller than their right-side counterparts, while the other six traits showed no significant side-to-side differences. These findings provide a basis for using Italian honey bee combs to rear larger workers in Chinese honey bee colonies, offering beekeepers a strategy to enhance foraging capacity and improve honey production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Apicultures)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 32697 KiB  
Article
Use of Relay Method for Enhancing Comb Construction by Apis cerana cerana Utilizing Apis mellifera ligustica
by Shunhua Yang, Shanglun Ge, Yiqiu Liu, Danyin Zhou, Xueyang Gong and Kun Dong
Insects 2025, 16(1), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16010052 - 8 Jan 2025
Viewed by 477
Abstract
Italian honey bees (IHBs, Apis mellifera ligustica) exhibit superior comb-building abilities compared with Chinese honey bees (CHBs, Apis cerana cerana), which often fail to fully utilize wax foundations, resulting in incomplete comb structures. The present study aimed to accelerate comb construction [...] Read more.
Italian honey bees (IHBs, Apis mellifera ligustica) exhibit superior comb-building abilities compared with Chinese honey bees (CHBs, Apis cerana cerana), which often fail to fully utilize wax foundations, resulting in incomplete comb structures. The present study aimed to accelerate comb construction in CHB colonies using IHBs. In the experiment, IHB colonies, each with approximately 42,000 adult workers, required over four hours to construct a semi-drawn comb on CHB wax foundations. These semi-drawn combs were then transferred to experimental CHB colonies, where they were left to complete the comb-building process for an additional 24 h (4 + 24 h relay). In contrast, control CHB colonies were allowed to build combs on fresh CHB wax foundations for 28 h. The results showed that the combs built by CHBs in 28 h, those built by IHBs in 4 h, and the 4 + 24 h relay combs all shared a foundation size of 41.7 cm × 19.7 cm, with average thicknesses of 10.40 mm, 5.60 mm, and 12.20 mm, respectively. The average percentage of cells built in the 4 + 24 h relay combs was significantly higher than that in the 28 h combs. Additionally, cells in the relay combs were significantly larger and deeper than those in the combs built solely by CHBs. Although these findings prove that utilizing IHB colonies to form a base structure can enhance the efficiency of comb construction in CHB colonies, further research is needed to confirm the effects of 4 + 24 h operation on brood rearing and worker bee size. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Apicultures)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

17 pages, 624 KiB  
Review
Buzzing with Intelligence: Current Issues in Apiculture and the Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Tackle It
by Putri Kusuma Astuti, Bettina Hegedűs, Andrzej Oleksa, Zoltán Bagi and Szilvia Kusza
Insects 2024, 15(6), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15060418 - 4 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2369
Abstract
Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are important for agriculture and ecosystems; however, they are threatened by the changing climate. In order to adapt and respond to emerging difficulties, beekeepers require the ability to continuously monitor their beehives. To carry out this, the utilization [...] Read more.
Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are important for agriculture and ecosystems; however, they are threatened by the changing climate. In order to adapt and respond to emerging difficulties, beekeepers require the ability to continuously monitor their beehives. To carry out this, the utilization of advanced machine learning techniques proves to be an exceptional tool. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the available research on the different applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in beekeeping that are relevant to climate change. Presented studies have shown that AI can be used in various scientific aspects of beekeeping and can work with several data types (e.g., sound, sensor readings, images) to investigate, model, predict, and help make decisions in apiaries. Research articles related to various aspects of apiculture, e.g., managing hives, maintaining their health, detecting pests and diseases, and climate and habitat management, were analyzed. It was found that several environmental, behavioral, and physical attributes needed to be monitored in real-time to be able to understand and fully predict the state of the hives. Finally, it could be concluded that even if there is not yet a full-scale monitoring method for apiculture, the already available approaches (even with their identified shortcomings) can help maintain sustainability in the changing apiculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Apicultures)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop