The bees allow scientists to track changes in a low-cost way, one entomologist said.
Scientists at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, use pollen DNA in the insects' honey to measure the plant species present near hives across the south.Ecological entomologist Dr Ben Woodcock said the bees were a "critical resource", allowing scientists to track large-scale changes in a relatively low-cost way.The research is part of the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, which began in 2018.
Working with beekeepers across the country, the project has built up a honey archive to monitor long-term patterns and trends."They're sort of like our remote samplers," she said. "They go out, they explore the environment, they go and actually look for all the plants... then they bring it back to the hive and they make honey."
The honey is then analysed for pollen grains to help scientists build a picture of plant species present around the hives, which change with the environmental conditions.Dr Woodcock said the use of bees in this way helped scientists to build a bigger picture of what was happening - something that, without the bees, would be "astronomically expensive"."It's a partnership between us on the scientific side, who can do all the analysis, and the beekeepers.
He said that understanding how the climate is changing on a "large scale" was crucial to managing it.Nearly £22bn pledged for carbon capture projectsIn the 1970s, a small group of Greenpeace activists had a unique idea for how they could put an end to commercial whaling.Urban bees produce bumper honey harvest
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