Repopulate the peninsula with 47 million samples Apis mellifera iberiensisbetter known as the Iberian beeIt is the target of a project started in Spain. Reverse the “extinction trend” of this native bee speciesessential for the preservation of ecosystems.
It’s all about the project Smart Green Beesintroduced by the technology company LG in cooperation with the association. Bee’s Cornertechnical partner of the initiative and artisan beekeepers from different regions of Spain such as Malaga, Valencia or Barcelona.
The Iberian or Spanish bee is the only native species of the Peninsula.but yesYour population is declining rapidly due to factors such as drought, diseases affecting species and low profitability of beekeepersas it is not the most productive breed for honey production.
The initiative aims to expand Apis mellifera iberiensis across Spain with up to 47 million new bees within two years,”one for each resident”, Paola Vecino, president of the El Rincón de la Abeja association, explains to EFE.
“We choose settlements that are conducive to this expansion of herds. sustainable beekeeping and this is a benefit to the ecosystemA beekeeper from a farm in the Montes de Málaga nature park is dressed in a bee suit and points out where they placed the first hives to help with this. demographic improvement Iberian bee.
Up to 60,000 bees per hive
Artisan beekeeper José Sebastián Sánchez in Malaga, with a long tradition and the founder of a local firm, Mieles Joseíllo, ten years ago sustainable production“It has the exact number of hives corresponding to this area due to the flower load present,” Vecino notes.
Located just twenty minutes’ drive from the capital city of Málaga, in this mountainous region, great variety of plantssuch as sage, gorse, rock rose or cantahueso that bees have availability of resources – flowers to pollinate – “most of the year”.
On this farm, which also has goats, dogs and chickens, 14 hives have been installed so far, but it is estimated that there will be 45 soon: year and medium,” says Vecino.
In the first stage, a newly created hive can contain between 5,000 and 6,000 bees, but this number may reach 60,000 after a few months.. This expansion usually takes place between spring and summer.
But because beekeeping is not mathematical and there are “thousands of factors” that can hinder the progress of a hive, supporters of the Smart Green Bees project have “overestimated” the number of swarms they need to establish. Sickness and other losses may occur due to natural and uncontrollable causes. This causes the honeycombs to not develop.
Wild boars attack hives
In this field, for example; it is quite common for wild boars to attack hivesso we try to select a few residential areas and overestimate the number of swarms that will be needed to reach these 47 million bees to ensure the success of the project”, says Paola Vecino.
The hives established in Malaga include: biometric tracking systems “they do not affect the development of the herds at all” and It allows a simple assessment of the demographic growth of bees in each beehive..
This technology also provides relevant information such as: weight, indoor humidity, heat or bee voiceto monitor the health status of hives in real time.
According to LG, each of the fifteen hives set up in Malaga already contains around 15,000 bees, and that number will increase in the coming months. floral richness of the environment And “privileged climateA province with “300 days of sun a year, efficient maintenance and less intrusive”.
It has some morphological features that distinguish the Iberian bee from other bee species. Apis mellifera: They are dark colored, with smaller and longer tongues than European bees, with slightly fuzzy stripes, and they exhibit somewhat irritable and aggressive behavior.
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Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]