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Bees have undergone a radical decrease in their global population over the recent years. A group of Australian scientists have now decided to put sensors on bees to investigate the possible causes of the extinction of bee colonies.

The number of bee colonies is rapidly diminishing. In U.S. alone, 31% of the commercial bee colonies went extinct or died during the year 2012 alone. This signifies an alarming trend for environmentalists especially because bees occupy a very significant place in our food chain. And if they were to go extinct in large numbers, this can cause many problems for humans too.

To try to understand the problem and attempt to resolve it, Australian scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization have now decided to put sensors on 5,000 bees. The bees will first be put in a refrigerator for a few hours. This will induce a coma-like state in them during which the scientists will use glue to put sensors on them.

Then the bees will be released and their movements will be regularly tracked. Worker bees, the ones which gather the nectar of flowers, generally follow a visible pattern in their daily movements. If they suddenly change their pattern, this could indicate a significant change in their environment. Scientists can then investigate these changes and see whether or not they are harmful for the bee colony.

The entire study will also help the scientists establish whether or not pesticides or other known environmental hazards can affect the bee population adversely.

Courtesy: The Verge

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