Beehive

Abstract

A beehive 10 for the observation of bees and decoding of the “waggle dance”. The beehive has an enclosure, a transparent sheet 16 forming a portion of a wall of the enclosure 12 and a camera 18 observing at least one frame 14 through the transparent sheet 16. The beehive 10 further comprises a processing means capable of processing a signal from the camera 18 to detecting a bee performing a “waggle dance” and determining the direction of the food source the waggle dance is indicating. The beehive may have a shade for shading the transparent sheet. Also provided is a beehive which features a one-way system for monitoring bees entering and leaving the beehive. The one-way system has at least one inlet 22 and outlet tube 24 with the proximal ends of the tubes adjacent to the wall of the enclosure and the distal ends of the tubes projecting into and out of the enclosure respectively. Entrance and exit zones can be observed with a camera and may automatically identify bees entering or leaving the hive.

Description

16 08 24 The present invention relates to a beehive and particularly but not exclusively to a beehive with cameras for monitoring the behaviours of bees. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 5 Pollinators provide a key ecosystem service necessary for the maintenance of both wild and agricultural plants. The distribution of pollen is necessary for both global food production and biodiversity. However, pollinator species are generally thought to be declining while demand for animal pollinated crops is increasing. The behaviour of bees, such as manual decoding of their waggle dance, can be 10 observed through an observation hive. An observation hive is a beehive with a transparent window so that the comb can be seen from the outside. Bees are known to perform the “waggle dance” on the comb, shown in Figure 1. This is used by bees to communicate the direction of a food source and its distance from the hive. The waggle dance can be interpreted to understand where bees from the hive are going to 15 feed, and thereby pollinate plants. The determination of direction of the waggle-dance is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows how the direction of the “waggle dance” indicates the direction of the food source. If this dance is observed and the location of the sun is known, the direction of the food source and its distance from the hive can be interpreted. For example, a waggle dance orientated at an angle, a to the right of 20 vertically ‘up’ on vertical comb indicates a food source a degrees to the right of the sun outside of the hive. The time taken by the “waggle” part of the routine indicates the distance to the food source. The use of observation hives can increase our understanding of bees, aids in their management and enables researchers to make informed decisions on how they can 25 improve biodiversity. In addition, understanding the food sources bees have identified and visited will give an indication of sites which have been pollinated. This can be useful in agriculture. The manual monitoring of the behaviour of many bees is time intensive and open to human error. Although with an observation hive, the “waggle dance” can be observed, it is difficult 30 to monitor where bees go when they leave the hive, and in particular congregation of bees near the entrance to the hive makes it difficult to track particular bees and work out whether they are entering the hive or leaving the hive. 16 08 24 It is an object of the present invention to reduce or substantially obviate the aforementioned problems and provide a beehive which allows the behaviour of bees to be systematically and continuously monitored. STATEMENT OF INVENTION 5 According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a beehive comprising: an enclosure, and at least one aperture in the enclosure for allowing bees to enter and / or exit the hive; a plurality of vertical frames within the enclosure for housing a colony of bees and supporting honeycomb; 10       - a transparent sheet forming at least a portion of a wall of the enclosure; at least one camera positioned outside the enclosure, the camera having a field of view which includes at least one of the frames viewed through the transparent sheet; a processing means for processing a signal from the camera, detecting a bee 15          performing a waggle dance, and making a determination as to the direction of a food source indicated by the waggle dance; and a shade for shading the transparent sheet and the plurality of frames behind the transparent sheet, avoiding glare and ensuring consistent lighting conditions when observed by the camera; 20       - the shade comprising a roof protruding from the enclosure, a floor above the aperture for the bees, a front wall and two side walls. The system may be able to monitor the hive in a way which is unintrusive to the normal behaviour of the colony. The system’s ability to detect a bee performing a waggle dance and ability to determine the direction of the food source the waggle dance is 25 indicating removes the need for skilled observers to perform the time-intensive task of interpreting the waggle dance and the associated risk of human-error. The processing means may be able to determine the distance between the hive and the food source indicated by the waggle dance. This would allow both the direction and distance of the food source to be determined. This data can then be stored and used for mapping 30 pollinated sites. 16 08 24 Existing computer vision I artificial intelligence software may be used for detecting and determining the direction of the waggle dance. For example see Wario F, Wild B, Rojas R, Landgraf T (2017) Automatic detection and decoding of honey bee waggle dances. PLoSONE 12(12): e0188626. https: / / doi.org / 10.1371 / journal.pone.0188626. 5 A shade is provided, protruding from the enclosure for shading the transparent sheet. This avoids direct sunlight from being incident on the transparent sheet, and on the frames through the transparent sheet. This provides consistent lighting conditions over the frame and prevents glare, improving the accuracy of waggle dance determination by the camera and processing means. 10 The shade comprises of a roof protruding from the enclosure. The roof may be in the form of a substantially horizontally-disposed sheet, which on one side abuts and is joined to the enclosure, along a line above or at the top of the transparent sheet, and which extends away from the enclosure. The shade further comprises one or more side walls. A side wall of the shade may be in the form of a substantially vertically-15 disposed sheet. The or each side wall may be joined at a top edge to the roof of the shade, and may be joined to a vertically-disposed side wall of the enclosure. Thus, the or each side wall serves as a bracket to support the roof of the shade. The side wall(s) also improve shading, by blocking sunlight from the sides of the beehive. This provides shade to the transparent sheet from the top and the sides. 20 In some embodiments, the shade includes a substantially vertical front wall, joining the two side walls. The front wall may be substantially parallel to the transparent sheet, to block sunlight when it shines directly towards the transparent sheet. The shade further includes a floor. Where the shade has two side walls, a front wall, a roof and a floor the shade forms a secondary enclosure, essentially a box, connected to the primary 25 enclosure which houses the frames. The camera may conveniently be mounted to the inside of the wall(s) of the secondary enclosure, to point at the transparent sheet. The camera may be mounted on a bracket supported between the two side walls of the shade. The camera may be supported facing the transparent sheet and facing into the hive to view the frame(s) through the transparent sheet. The camera may be 30 mounted spaced at a distance from the transparent sheet, to provide a suitable field of view to observe preferably at least the whole frame and possibly an entrance I exit as well, as will be described. For example, the camera may be mounted at a horizontal distance of at least 20 cm, preferably at least 30 cm, or at least 40 cm, from the hive. 16 08 24 The camera may be mounted to the front wall and / or the floor of the shade I secondary enclosure, via brackets if necessary, to position the camera in the optimal position to focus on the frame through the transparent sheet. Where the secondary enclosure has a floor, a transparent or translucent window may 5 be included in the floor. This may allow sufficient indirect sunlight to enter the secondary enclosure to provide light for the bees to be seen by the camera. The amount of indirect sunlight which is admitted can be controlled by changing the size of the window and / or the transparency of the material. In some embodiments a window may be provide in a roof, side wall or front wall of the enclosure. However, a window 10 in the floor is found to be preferable to ensure that direct sunlight is not admitted at any time of the day or year, but to allow in enough light to allow the cameras to function. A window in the floor of the secondary enclosure may also allow a second camera, inside the secondary enclosure, to view the entrance I exit to the hive, as will be described in further detail below. The transparent sheet may be made of glass. The 15   glass may be anti-glare glass to allow for clear footage of the hive. The plurality of vertical frames contained within the enclosure may be parallel to each other and to the transparent sheet. This allows efficient packing of the plurality of vertical frames and allows at least one frame to be observed through the transparent sheet. 20 In some embodiments, an artificial light source may be included. The light source may be provided inside the shade I secondary enclosure, for example positioned on the underside of the roof of the shade between the two walls of the shade. The light source may be provided as part of a luminaire which may include a diffuser. The diffuser may be in the form of a panel and the light source may be positioned 25 adjacent to and / or behind the diffuser. The panel may be a substantially flat panel and may be for example rectangular. The light source assists with providing even lighting so that the camera can determine the waggle dance direction throughout the day and irrespective of natural light conditions. Suitable low-level and diffuse lighting is found not to disturb the colony or 30 impact its behaviour. In one embodiment, the light source is an LED light source. 16 08 24 The entrance I exit aperture(s) may be in a lower portion of, or just below, the transparent portion of the enclosure wall. The entrance I exit aperture(s) may be level with a lower portion of, or just below, the frame which is viewed by the camera. 5 Where a secondary enclosure is provided having a floor, the entrance I exit aperture(s) may be below the floor of the secondary enclosure, i.e. the floor of the secondary enclosure is at a height above the bottom of the primary enclosure which contains the frames. The floor of the secondary enclosure prevents bees from entering the secondary enclosure - preferably the secondary enclosure is fully sealed on all sides 10 to prevent bees from entering the secondary enclosure. This prevents bees, other than bees on the frame seen through the transparent sheet, from coming into the field of view of the camera. The camera may be positioned with its field of view including both the frame and the entrance I exit aperture(s). By monitoring both the frame and the entrance I exit with 15 the camera, not only can the “waggle dance” be interpreted, but also bees entering or leaving the hive can be counted. This is useful information because the number of bees going in a particular direction to a particular food source can be estimated. However, in some embodiments, one camera is provided with its field of view including the frame, and a second camera is provided with its field of view including the entrance 20 I exit apertures. The second camera may view the entrance I exit apertures from i nside the secondary enclosure, through a window in the floor of the secondary enclosure. The secondary enclosure provides protection for the cameras, controls the amount of sunlight which can enter the hive through the transparent window, and prevents bees from entering the field of view of the camera between the camera and the transparent 25 sheet. The walls of the enclosure may contain the bees so that the bees can only enter I exit the hive through the aperture(s) provided for that purpose. Preferably, the entrance I exit is configured for bees to enter the hive in one zone and exit the hive in another zone. In other words, a “one-way system” is established. 30 The one-way system may be established through an inlet tube and an outlet tube. The inlet tube may be provided projecting from the entrance aperture and extending into the hive, with a proximal end of the tube adjacent the wall of the enclosure and a distal 16 08 24 end inside the enclosure, spaced from the wall of the enclosure. The outlet tube may be provided projecting from the exit aperture and extending out of the hive, with a proximal end of the tube adjacent the wall of the enclosure and distal end outside the enclosure, spaced from the wall of the enclosure. 5 The proximal ends of the tubes may be adjacent to the wall of the enclosure, in that they are flush with the enclosure wall, or otherwise the aperture in the enclosure wall forms in effect the end of the tube. In some embodiments, the tubes may not be completely flush with the wall, i.e. they might extend from the wall by a few millimetres, however the tubes should be flush with the wall to enough of an extent that a bee can 10   land on the wall and crawl into the end of the tube. On the other hand, the distal ends of the tubes may be for example at least 5 cm or at least 10 cm away from the walls, so that bees cannot crawl from the walls into the end of the tube. It is found that bees are discouraged from landing on the exposed projecting ends of 15 the inlet and outlet tubes. They prefer to be able to land on a flat surface and then crawl into the tube. The arrangement of the inlet and outlet tubes therefore has the effect of causing bees to enter through one tube and exit through another. This makes it much easier to count bees going into the hive and out of the hive. The inlet and outlet tubes may be separated or spaced apart enough to produce an entrance zone and an 20 exit zone. A bee observed in the entrance zone is likely to be entering the hive and a bee observed in the exit zone is likely to be exiting the hive. This makes estimation of number of bees entering and leaving more straightforward. Known computer vision software can detect bees in video with a good degree of accuracy, as long as the image quality is sufficiently good. 25 The luminaire, where provided, may be switched on at night-time to provide a light source when natural light is unavailable. Alternatively the luminaire may be switched on all the time to provide a primary light source, although in embodiments with a window in the floor of the secondary enclosure, or other open or transparent windows in the secondary enclosure, the luminaire may provide an additional light source 30 whether or not there is natural light. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 16 08 24 For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show more clearly how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example only to the accompanying drawings, in which: 5 Figure 1 shows the path taken by a bee during the “waggle dance”; Figure 2 shows how the direction of a food source can be determined from the “waggle dance”; Figure 3a shows a front view of an embodiment of a beehive according to the invention, without a camera; 10 Figure 3b shows how camera can be mounted to the beehive of Figure 3a; Figure 4 shows a side view of the beehive of Figure 3; Figure 5 shows an arrangement of inlet and outlet tubes, forming part of the beehive in Figures 3a and 3b; Figure 6 shows a second embodiment of a beehive; 15 Figure 7 shows part of the beehive of Figure 6, showing the entrance to and exit from the hive; Figure 8 shows the inside of a secondary enclosure forming part of the beehive of Figure 6; and Figure 9 shows a luminaire on the inside of the roof of the secondary enclosure shown 20 in Figure 8. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 shows the path of a bee performing a “waggle dance”. The bee “waggles” while moving in a line in a particular direction, indicated as angle a from the vertical. The bee then crawls in a loop, back to the starting point of the “waggle”, and repeats 25 the waggle. The angle a indicates the direction to a food source relative to the position of the sun, as shown in Figure 2, and the length (in time) of the “waggle” portion of the dance indicates the distance. 16 08 24 Referring now to Figure 3a, a beehive is generally indicated at 10. The beehive 10 is equipped for observing bees performing the waggle dance. The beehive 10 includes an enclosure (12, see also Figure 4) which contains a plurality of frames 14 positioned vertically and parallel with each other in the enclosure. In the drawings only one frame 5    14 is shown but it will be appreciated that there is space for multiple frames 14. The frame 14 shown in the drawings is the frame closest to the front of the beehive 10, and is positioned directly behind a transparent sheet 16. The transparent sheet 16 forms part of one of the walls of the enclosure so that the frame 14 is visible from the outside of the enclosure, through the transparent sheet 16. 10 The beehive 10 includes entrance and exit apertures in the form of inlet tubes 22 and outlet tubes 24. These allow the bees to enter and exit the hive. The entrance and exit apertures are holes in the wall of the enclosure 12, and in this embodiment are disposed on the front wall of the beehive 10, just below the transparent sheet 16. These tubes are arranged to form a one-way system as will be described. 15 Shelf 46 protrudes from the bottom of the enclosure 12, for example having an extent of around 30cm in front of the enclosure 12. The shelf 46 is a substantially horizontal solid surface which extends substantially at right angles from the front wall of the enclosure 12, from a line below the transparent sheet 16 and close to the bottom of the front wall of the enclosure 12. In this embodiment the shelf 46 may be positioned 20 for example around 5cm in height from the bottom of the enclosure 12. The shelf 46 gives bees a solid surface to land on prior from entering the inlet tube 22. The outlet tube 24 is positioned at about 10 mm above the shelf 46 to discourage bees from crawling into the hive through the outlet tube 24. A shade 26 is provided comprising of a roof 28 and two walls 30a and 30b. The roof of 25 the shade 28 protrudes from the top of the enclosure 12, for example around 80 cm in front of the enclosure 12. The roof 28 is a substantially horizontal solid surface which extends substantially at right angles from the front wall of the enclosure 12, from a line above the transparent sheet 16 at the top of the front wall of the enclosure 12. The walls 30a, 30b are joined perpendicular to both the roof of the shade 28 and the shelf 30   46 featuring slopped front edges due to the differences in the extent of protrusion between the shelf 46 and the roof 28. The two walls 30a, 30b support the roof of the shade. The shade 26 provides shade from above and the sides, avoiding direct sunlight from being incident on the transparent sheet 16, and on the frame directly behind the transparent sheet 16. 16 08 24 In this embodiment, the shade is open at the front and therefore, if the sun is very low in the sky and directly in line with the hive, direct sunlight may enter. Further shading may be provided to prevent this where it is a problem, or the shade may be in the form of a sealed secondary enclosure as in the second embodiment described later. 5 This arrangement allows the bees on the frame 14 in the beehive 10 to be observed by a camera (18, Figure 3b) when performing a waggle dance. The camera 18 may be for example a Vizy (TM) camera (18, Figure 3b) which also contains a processing means (a Raspberry Pi (RTM) computer running video processing software) which can detect a bee performing a waggle dance and then decode the waggle dance to make 10 a determination as to the direction of a food source and its distance from the beehive 10. Figure 3b shows how the camera 18 is mounted to the beehive 10. The camera 18 is mounted on a bracket 32 fixed between the two walls 30a and 30b. The bracket 32 supports the camera 18 in a position in front of the transparent sheet 16 and about 30 15 cm away from the transparent sheet 16, allowing the entirety of the frame 14 directly behind the transparent sheet 16 as well as the inlet tubes 22 and outlet tubes 24 to be within the field of view of camera 18. The camera 18 is pointing towards the frame 14, i.e. into the picture in Figure 3b. The shade 26 provides consistent lighting conditions and prevents glare, improving the 20 accuracy of waggle dance determination by the Vizy (TM) camera 18. Consistent lighting conditions are also provided by a luminaire 34 consisting of an LED light source 36 and a rectangular diffuser panel 38 fitted to the underside of the shade roof 28. The LED light source 36 is located along the edges of the diffuser panel, providing a uniform glow. The diffuser panel 38 provides low-level diffuse lighting which does not disturb 25 the colony of bees. The luminaire 34 is fitted to the underside of the shade roof 28. The luminaire 34 comprises a substantially rectangular flat panel 38. The panel 38 is a diffuser which is made to guide light from a light source and diffuse it evenly from the surface of the panel 38. A light source in the form of an LED strip 36 is provided along the edge of 30 the panel 38. Referring to Figure 4, a side view illustrates the depth of the enclosure 12 and the positioning of the vertically held, parallel, frames 14. Although only one frame 14 is shown in Figure 4, it will be appreciated that many parallel frames can be positioned 16 08 24 inside the enclosure, behind the frame 14, i.e. to the left of frame 14 in Figure 4. A lid, not shown in the drawings, closes the top of the enclosure. Figure 5 shows the arrangement of the inlet tubes 22 and outlet tubes 24 in more detail. The tubes 22, 24 are held in and form extensions of apertures through a wall of the 5 enclosure. The proximal ends of the tubes 22b and 24b are adjacent to an opaque portion of the front wall of the enclosure 40, in that they are flush with the wall. The distal ends of the inlet tubes 22a project into the enclosure 10 whereas the distal ends of the outlet tubes 24a project outside of the enclosure 10. Both distal ends of the tubes 22a and 24a are spaced from the walls of the enclosure 10. The distal ends of the 10 tubes 22a and 24a are spaced more than 5 cm away from the walls of the enclosure 12 or the shade 26, so that bees cannot crawl from the walls into the end of the distal end of the tubes 22a and 24a. Preferably, the distal ends of the tubes 22a, 24a are spaced at a minimum distance from any surface, especially an opaque surface, on which a bee may land. The minimum distance may be for example at least 1cm, at 15 least 2cm or at least 5cm. The separation between the proximal end of the inlet tubes 22b and distal ends of the outlet tubes 24a ensure two distinct zones, an entrance zone 42 and exit zone 44. The Vizy (TM) camera 18 observes these zones and can detect when a bee is present in either the entrance zone 42 or exit zone 44. By keeping the entrance zone 42 and exit 20 zones 44 separated when the Vizy (TM) camera detects a bee in a particular zone it is known whether it is entering or leaving which gives useful information regarding the behaviour of the colony. Figure 6 shows a second embodiment of a beehive 10’. The beehive 10’ primarily differs from the beehive 10 in that the shade is provided in the form of a secondary 25 enclosure 26’ which is attached to the side of main enclosure 12’. The secondary enclosure 26’ is a box having a roof, side walls and a floor. It is sealed in the sense that the inside of the secondary enclosure 26’ is protected from weather, sufficiently to protect the cameras inside, and preferably also to prevent bees from entering the secondary enclosure 26’. The secondary enclosure 26’ shares a wall with the primary 30 enclosure 12’, that shared wall including the transparent sheet 16’ (see Figure 8). Hence the transparent sheet 16’ divides the interior of the secondary enclosure 26’ from the interior of the primary enclosure 10’. The secondary enclosure houses a camera 18’ for observing the frame through the transparent sheet 16’. The secondary enclosure houses a further camera 48’ for 16 08 24 observing the entrance I exit zones 42’, 44’ through a transparent window 50’ in the floor of the secondary enclosure. Note that the floor of the secondary enclosure is above the entrance I exit tubes 22’, 24’, which in turn are above a shelf 46’. Bees can enter and exit the hive by flying 5 between the shelf 46’ and the floor of the secondary enclosure 26’. The secondary enclosure 26’ and shelf 46’ provide heavy shade around the entrance I exit tubes 22’, 24’. In Figure 9, a luminaire 34’ is seen on the underside of the roof of the secondary enclosure. Note that the roof is lifted up in Figure 8 and Figure 9, but would normally 10 be in place to seal the secondary enclosure. The roof may be removable when required to access the cameras for any required maintenance. In some embodiments, the cameras may be powered by batteries which could be stored in the secondary enclosure. The luminaire 34’ in this embodiment provides almost all of the light which is allowed 15 inside the secondary enclosure, to illuminate the frame 14’ and entrance I exit zones 42’, 44’. Very limited natural light may enter through the window 50’ The beehive described is able to monitor the behaviour of a colony of bees, and specifically identify where the bees are likely to be flying to outside the hive. Bees are known to fly as far as several miles away from the hive for food, and so by detecting 20 waggle dance directions and distances, and bees entering and leaving the hive, the areas which bees are likely to be pollinating can be mapped. This is useful in research, conservation and agriculture. By monitoring both the frame and the entrance I exit, useful data can be collected on the colony. For example, numbers of bees entering and leaving at different times of 25 the day can be recorded, and bees can be discriminated by sex or caste, and whether they have pollen or not. Even the species of plant from which the pollen is taken may be classified. This is all useful data to better understand where bees from a colony are travelling to, which can be used to inform conservation and land management efforts. The embodiments described above are provided by way of example only, and various 30 changes and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

16 08 241. A beehive comprising:an enclosure, and at least one aperture in the enclosure for allowing bees to enter and / or exit the hive;5           a plurality of vertical frames within the enclosure for housing a colony of beesand supporting honeycomb;a transparent sheet forming at least a portion of a wall of the enclosure;at least one camera positioned outside the enclosure, the camera having a field of view which includes at least one of the frames viewed through the 10          transparent sheet;a processing means for processing a signal from the camera, detecting a bee performing a waggle dance, and making a determination as to the direction of a food source indicated by the waggle dance; anda shade for shading the transparent sheet and the plurality of frames behind 15           the transparent sheet, avoiding glare and ensuring consistent lightingconditions when observed by the camera;the shade comprising a roof protruding from the enclosure, a floor above the aperture for the bees, a front wall and two side walls.

2. A beehive as claimed in claim 1, in which the camera is mounted on a bracket 20          supported between the two side walls of the shade.

3. A beehive as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the transparent sheet is made of glass.

4. A beehive as described in any preceding claim, in which the vertical frames are parallel to each other and parallel to the transparent sheet.25       5. A beehive as claimed in any preceding claim, in which a light source is providedfor ensuring consistent lighting conditions when the frames are observed by the camera without disturbing the behaviour of the bees, the light source being provided as part of a luminaire which includes a diffuser.

6. A beehive as claimed in claim 5, in which the light source is fitted on the underside of the shade.

7. A beehive as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, in which the diffuser is in the form of a substantially flat sheet, with uniform light output over a surface of the sheet.16 08 24

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