Sarah Knapton, science
editor
20 JUNE 2016 • 4:56PM
“2 bee, or not 2 bee?” That is
the question Londoners could be asking when trying to spot one of hundreds of
specially numbered bees which are being released into the capital.
Biologists at Queen Mary University of London have
super-glued ‘licence plates’ to 500 bees and will be sending them off from
campus rooftops on Tuesday June 21 as part of a project to uncover the
secret lives of the insects. Hundreds more will follow in the coming weeks.
To encourage a city-wide bee hunt,
the university is awarding prizes of £100 vouchers for the best pictures of the
special insects.
The London Pollinator
Project is trying to locate the bees’ preferred patches in the capital
and discover which are their favourite flowers.
Britain’s bees are under threat –
but we can all play a part in helping them by creating bee-friendly gardens and
other spaces.Dave Timms, Friends of the Earth
Armed with the knowledge, the
researchers can improve planting schemes to help populations thrive.
Project leader Professor
Lars Chittka, from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said:
"The fact that the bees have individual 'license plates' will allow anyone
interested to develop their own science project, and ask scientific
questions about the behaviour of bees.
“For example, citizen
scientists might be intrigued to see the same bee return to their balcony
and might record when during the day, how many times and which flowers they
prefer.
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