What if the world ran out of bees? Such a world might seem exaggerated to us right now, but scientists are looking for ways to help plants survive without these essential insects, as they are essential for the pollination of flowers as well as fruits or vegetables. The goal is to achieve a successful form of artificial pollination.
Data shows that bee populations are declining more and more every year
And it is that, the numbers are worrying. Over the past 15 years, bee colonies have been disappearing in what is known as “colony collapse disorder” and some regions have seen as much as 90% decline from habitat loss, climate change , poor management practices, exposure to pesticides, pests and other diseases … An unsustainable figure.
The food security and sustainability of native ecosystems depend on the interactions between plants and insects in countless ways (remember that up to 30% of the food we eat depends directly or indirectly on the pollination of bees) and the rapid decline in the number of insects contribute to this dire situation.
Some researchers are working toward a future where natural insect pollinators could be replaced by free-flying artificial bees.
For example, Ola Gjønnes Grendal, a materials technologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, works with something called piezoelectric materials.
” These materials are really cool. One of their properties is that they expand if you apply an electrical voltage to them, but return to normal when the electrical voltage is removed. You can use this function to create a small, efficient motor that can mimic the shape. in which bees fly “, explains the expert.
Piezoelectric materials perform best at high frequency, which means that it is perfect for mimicking the way these insects fly. Grendal explains that for everything to work, you need a source of power, such as a small battery to act as fuel, some kind of chassis to hold everything together, and accessories that transmit the movement of the piezoelectric muscles to the wings.
“There are already some prototypes of small flying bees, but we are still a long way from having a small bee that can fly and be enough to pollinate all the food we need,” says Grendal.
Another initiative is that of Eylam Ran, co-founder and CEO of the Israeli startup Edete , which has built artificial pollination robots to help bees. “Bees don’t do their job efficiently: to successfully pollinate an almond blossom, they need to travel between trees, but most of their movements are between flowers on the same tree. They only work at certain temperatures. If trees need cross-pollination they are not blooming at the same time, the bees are useless, “says Ran.
The expert argues that we need different tools for food production. The start-up process works by harvesting almond blossoms, in this case, using the same tree-shaking machines farmers currently use to pick almonds, gently separating the pollen from the flower and storing it for more than a year so that it can used at the perfect time to match the flowering cycle of other trees.
When the trees are ready for pollination , the company’s team uses lidar sensing technology to position itself to the side of each tree, and then spray the pollen as close to the branches as possible. Ran likens it to the final stage of an automatic car wash, when air blows over the contours of the vehicle to dry it. An electrostatic charge in the pollen helps it adhere to the flowers.
It can work without bees, although Ran says it works best with their help. The caveat is that it would not take so many.
The startup is currently testing its technology in both Israel and Australia, and by 2022, it plans to start working on a large scale in California orchards. Assuming everything works as expected, the company plans to expand to other crops.
Due to the great need for pollination that our society demands, the future of pollination will be clearly marked by technology, whether in the form of artificial bees or other ingenious ideas that are to come.
