Bacheloropgave: En undersøgelse af muligheden for anvendelse af videokamera til registrering af føderessourcer for vilde bier

Summary

Wild bees in Denmark and the rest of the world are declining in numbers. A consequence of this development is reduced yield stability for insect pollinated crops, and reduced pollination of wild plants. BEEFARM is a research project aiming to develop a tool for farmers, which allows them to determine the amount of food and nesting resources for wild bees on their farm. To use the tool, a farmer is required to take time out of an already busy schedule. Therefore it is important to locate ways in which the time needed to use the tool is minimized. The aim of this study is to determine if and how a small action camera can reduce the time it takes for the farmer to evaluate the food resources for wild bees. To do this, a Garmin Virb Elite action camera was used to film the wild vegetation on four organic farms. The video footage was then analysed using the tool developed by BEEFARM and compared to data from the same farms achieved by a BEEFARM researcher, who analysed the vegetation directly on the farms. The results of some of the video analysis were also compared to that of another student, who analysed the same video footage with the same tool. The purpose of this was to determine the effect the person analysing the videos would have on the results. The results generally showed few differences between the video analyses and the field analysis. There were generally less of a difference when comparing data for trees than for herbs. Herbs with yellow and white flowers were easier to recognize in the video footage than herbs with red and violet flowers, though small herbs with white flowers could be very difficult to spot, especially when growing in large areas filmed from a distance. There were also few differences between the two video analyses, though there was some disagreement on the amount of plants growing in different areas. There was also a chance that plants growing in small numbers could be registered by one observer, but overlooked by another. The study finds that a small action camera can be used as a part of the BEEFARM tool. The different habitats on a farm should be filmed thoroughly, especially wide, open spaces, and the video footage should be analysed carefully to avoid missing small plants.