Bees buzzing at the Béziers University Institute of Technology
Since June 1, 2015, the Béziers University Institute of Technology has installed two Caucasian bee hives on its roof for educational and research purposes.
The aim of this project is multifaceted: to help raise awareness among students and the general public about the decline of bees; to contribute to the protection of local biodiversity through the pollinating role of bees; to mobilize teaching staff and students around various innovative educational projects related to "communicating hives"; and to participate in innovative technical, technological, and scientific projects related to the world of beekeeping and research.
A 2.0 apiary!
“You’ve got an e-miel!” This is the name of the IUT’s joint project that will connect beehives to the Internet. The concept is simple: the hives are equipped with sensors, cameras, and other measuring instruments that allow beekeepers, researchers, or citizens to monitor, analyze, or simply observe them. The aim of this experiment is to provide researchers with new tools to better understand CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder).
Students from the three departments of the IUT (University Institute of Technology): networks and telecommunications, marketing techniques, multimedia and Internet professions will work on study projects to develop a communicating hive, connected to the Internet, broadcasting its images and physical parameters (temperature, humidity, etc.). The goal is to put this new type of hive into production in spring 2016.
As part of this project, the IUT is working with cutting-edge scientific research laboratories on these issues, whose teams have contributed to the development of the project specifications.
The decline of honeybees
Particularly visible in Europe since the early 2000s, this syndrome takes the form of hives suddenly emptied of almost all their bees at the end of winter or even during the mild season. This shock is naturally a cause for concern for beekeepers, but also for ecologists and other agricultural experts because of the consequences of the lack of pollination on our agricultural economy. According to the French National Institute for Research (INRA), 84% of species cultivated in Europe depend directly on pollinators, more than 90% of which are bees.