Ahead of World Bee Day on Wednesday 20 May, Monash University experts are available to discuss research related to bee biodiversity and conservation, AI-powered precision pollination, and how the little pollinators can solve math problems!
Professor Alan Dorin, Department of Data Science & AI, Faculty of Information Technology
Contact via: +61 450 501 248 or [email protected]
*Professor Dorin is only available for recorded interviews or responses via email.
- Using AI to track insect movements and health
- Ecosystem simulation
- Precision pollination with AI
The following can be attributed to Professor Dorin:
“Bees play a crucial role in pollination and, consequently, in crop production and food security. This extends beyond honey bees and bumblebees to thousands of species, including tiny native bees that help propagate crops and plants across Australia and around the world.
“Research is uncovering new ways to use technology to support farmers and better understand and maintain biodiversity. We have developed bee monitoring systems using mobile robots, AI and computer vision-powered digital camera traps to monitor crop and wildflower pollination.
“In related ‘precision pollination’ projects, we are using computer simulations of bees in protected cropping to understand how crop arrangements, and the entrances and exits of glasshouses and polytunnels, influence bee movement and pollination success.”
Dr Scarlett Howard, Senior Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science
Contact via: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- Bee populations and biodiversity
- Bio-inspired computing
- Conservation and environmental impact
- Research ethics and methodology
The following can be attributed to Dr Howard:
“Globally there are estimated to be approximately between 20,000 and 26,000 bee species, with Australia hosting 2-3,000 bee species. Bees are one of the most important and abundant groups of pollinators for crop production, native plant reproduction, and biodiversity making them critical for human health, ecosystem functioning and food security.
“As lead of the Integrative Cognition, Ecology and Bio-Inspiration (ICEB) Research Group, our team studies the intelligence, pollination abilities, and environmental challenges facing honeybees and native Australian bees. Through this work, we aim to better understand how intelligence evolves, support pollinator conservation, protect food security, and raise awareness of Australia’s remarkable native bees.
“One area of our research explores how bee intelligence could inspire new energy-efficient computer systems. To achieve this goal, we study how bees process numbers. We have shown that honeybees can learn to solve simple mathematical problems like addition and subtraction and can be taught to categorise numbers of items as odd or even. Our research has also uncovered that bees can understand the concept of zero, order numbers from left to right, and learn a basic number language, similar to Arabic numerals.
“We are also investigating how environmental changes, such as urbanisation and climate change, affect bees and pollination. This research helps improve conservation efforts, protect biodiversity, and support future food security.
“The ICEB team explores the intelligence and pollination capacity of insects through the lens of insect welfare and the ethical treatment of invertebrates. We work alongside freely flying honeybees which voluntarily participate in studies of their intelligence, sentience, and pollination abilities. We perform catch and release studies with wild, native bees to assess their capacity to cope with environmental changes. We use historical museum specimens of native bees to assess their morphological changes over time.”
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