Overview
An observation hive is a safe way to observe honey bees in their home. This fascinating insect provides us with honey, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, beeswax, and other unique materials while they pollinate plants and gardens in the surrounding area. Throughout the year, honey bees reproduce and grow in the summer, gather pollen and nectar from floral resources, and make honey to feed themselves. At peak size, each colony has one queen, tens of thousands of female workers, and hundreds of male drones. It is a highly evolved and organized society, a superorganism. The bees in this hive are the western or European honey bee (Apis mellifera). This bee now occurs worldwide and is the most frequent visitor to flowering crops. Numerically this bee may also be the most important, single species of pollinator across natural ecosystems. However, it forages extensively on only a fraction of plant species at any given time, underscoring the importance of diverse assemblages of non-Apis pollinators to the rest of the flowering plants in natural habitats.
This maple and cherry hardwood observation hive was first put online and displayed on campus from 1997-2012 in the Division of Biological Sciences. Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, his partners, and teams of researchers:
- Pioneered landscape-level pollution monitoring with honey bees
- Built and put online the first electronic Smart Hives
- Instituted the system for training bees to find landmines, dead bodies, drug laboratories, and as well as invasive species of plants and animals
- Produced the first LIDAR instruments for mapping the distribution of free-foraging bees
- Developed a fully online Master Beekeeper certificate program at UM to help educate hobbyist and commercial beekeepers on science-based principles of beekeeping
- Launched in 2019, a global citizen science project using their patented Bee Health Guru on smartphones to decode the songs of bees
Artist Credit
Digital artist Eric Keller illustrated the external body and internal nervous system of Apis mellifera (honey bee). Eric is an artist and animator based in Los Angeles who uses 3D digital modeling software to communicate scientific concepts to the general audience. He is particularly interested in illustrating concepts related to entomology, ecology, and biology.
To see more of his work, visit his portfolio at www.bloopatone.com.
He also created the Entomology Animated Facebook Page to feature his insect-related animations.
Sponsors
This observation hive is made possible by donations and support from:
Montana State Beekeepers Association | Western Bee | University of Montana, UMOnline | University of Montana, University Center | Bee Alert Technology, Inc. | Beekeepers of the Bitterroot | Big Sky Beekeepers | Boyce Lumber | Superior Hardwoods of Montana
Individuals and Special Mentions:
Jerry Bromenshenk | Scott Debnam | Jaylene Naylor | Robert Seccomb | Colin Henderson | Holly Kulish | Kelly Chadwick | Isabel Quiram | Rick Molenda | Larry Mcelravy | Joshua Wilson | Loren Stormo | Travis Bradford | Jean Loftus | David Firth | Eric Keller