Towards a system of sustainable management and protection of pollination resources
Programme : #DigitAg (Institut Convergences Agriculture Numérique)
Portée : Nationale
The Asian hornet, an important predator of pollinating insects, was accidentally introduced into France in 2004 and quickly became an invasive species in Europe. Its favorite target is the honeybee, an essential biodiversity link and the main pollinator of many food crops. By hovering in front of hives, this hornet participates in the bee colony collapse syndrome, in the same way as pesticides, parasites and climate change.The Asian hornet thus hinders the pollination services of bees, threatening biodiversity, agriculture and food security. While the research undertaken to control it is numerous, and for the moment not very ecologically-friendly, its flight dynamics and its predation behavior towards the honey bee remain little studied. In particular, we do not know the biotic and abiotic parameters likely to influence its flight trajectory and its predation success. Moreover, its impact on bee populations has never been precisely quantified. Sixteen years after its introduction, it is necessary to develop a reliable and automatable methodology to count predation events at the entrance of hives in order to quantify the hornet's impact on apiaries and analyze its evolution over time. The automatic processing of data acquired in large quantities across the country will make it possible to evaluate the economic cost of this predator and to know which types of apiaries are most impacted and to inform the times and conditions that are conducive to intervention or trapping.While the research undertaken to control it is numerous and for the moment not very ecological, its flight dynamics and its predation behavior towards the honey bee remain little studied. In particular, we do not know the biotic and abiotic parameters likely to influence its flight trajectory and its predation success. Moreover, its impact on bee populations has never been precisely quantified. Sixteen years after its introduction, it is necessary to develop a reliable and automatable methodology to count predation events at the entrance of hives in order to quantify the hornet's impact on apiaries and analyze its evolution over time.The automatic processing of data acquired in mass across the country will make it possible to evaluate the economic cost of this predator and to know the types of apiaries most impacted and to inform on the favourable times and conditions for intervention or trapping.
COLLABORATIONS
- Equipe-Projet ICAR, LIRMM, Montpellier