Guelph Arboretum buzzing with excitement as bumblebee tracker takes flight

Researchers at the University of Guelph are buzzing about their use of Bluetooth trackers to monitor bumblebee behaviour and flight patterns.

A tiny Bluetooth tracker used by researchers at the University of Guelph is generating a lot of buzz in the world of bumblebees.

“Bluetooth for Bees” is a project monitoring bumblebee behaviour and flight patterns to determine their ecology and identify differences between bugs born and raised in captivity and those found in the wild.

Trackers were superglued onto 50 bumblebee queens, 30 wild and 20 commercial bees, before the pollinators were released into the Guelph Arboretum in April.

The device is lightweight and doesn’t impact the bees’ ability to fly. It’s powered by a small solar panel and transmits signals using a Bluetooth connection.

“The tag works like an AirTag,” said graduate student and researcher Marianne Goulet. “Only with iPhones right now, but eventually, maybe with all phones.”

Goulet and her advisor Nigel Raine, an environmental sciences professor at the University of Guelph, said they’re asking people to join the research project by visiting the Arboretum over the next few weeks. Visitors with iPhones can turn on their Bluetooth and let the busy bees and researchers do the rest.

“We’re not using any of your data or privacy,” Raine said. “But we basically get another way of collecting data about where these tagged bees are.”

The transmission signal is sent to Goulet and the team and helps locate the bees in and around the controlled area.

The summertime project is a test run for the tracker and Goulet plans to use the device for her master’s project on Monarch butterflies in the fall.

“We’re going to track them while they migrate and see how they orient, if they orient, and if they can reach Mexico,” she said.

In the meantime, Goulet and Raine said the work they’re doing now will hopefully help with conservation efforts in the future.

“We really need to understand why they’re declining and do things the best we can to support them,” Raine said. “And this work — understanding how bees move and how much they move between generations is really important to understand how population demography works for these bees.”

Those interested in contributing to the research project can visit the Arboretum with their Bluetooth devices until July, before the queens burrow underground to build their colonies.