Precision Apicultures

Dear Colleagues,

Honey bees are essential pollinators for environmental conservation and for many crops. In addition, beekeeping provides us with products such as honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly or wax, and it is an economic activity of interest for the development of rural areas. Honey bees are also frequently used as bioindicators of the environment. Unfortunately, the Western honey bee faces multiple threats and virtually all colonies are maintained by beekeepers. On the other hand, beekeeping is very low-tech. The growing application of new technologies can be a very interesting tool for the development of beekeeping and the conservation of honey bees. This is what is known as “precision apiculture”. The objective of this Special Issue of the journal Insects is to provide the latest advances in precision apiculture, through contributions on electronic designs and monitoring systems to assess variables in honey bee hives, such as bee hive status, colony health, productivity evaluation, warnings and alarms in bee hives; predictive studies; the use of bees as environmental bioindicators; and any other topic that contributes to improving our knowledge of bees, their conservation, productivity or their use for understanding the environment.

Prof. Dr. José Manuel Flores
Dr. Francisco J. Rodriguez-Lozano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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