"Artificial Intelligence Could Help Monitor Bee Health"

When high school student Jade Greenberg heard about what was happening to America’s bee populations, she decided to take action. Last year, Greenberg, then a junior at Pascack Hills High School in New Jersey, learned from a local beekeeper about a tiny reddish-brown mite that is posing a serious threat to the honey bees (Apis mellifera) used across the US for pollinating various crops. But what began as a school project to build a hive that might help boost bee health soon turned into a collaboration with two tech companies to use artificial intelligence (AI) and tracking systems to tackle the problem.

The varroa mite (Varroa destructor) was brought over to North America from Southeast Asia decades ago and has been decimating not only colonies tended by beekeepers, but also feral colonies—those that were started in the wild by bees originally from hives kept by humans. The pest reproduces within honey bee colonies, latching onto the insects and feeding off their fat body, a tissue similar in function to the mammalian liver. Over time, the parasite weakens bees’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to viruses and pesticides.