The HABeeTAT (How to Adapt Beehive To climATe Change) project, financed by Agropolis Fondation, aims to contribute to the maintenance of beekeeping activity in the face of major threats posed by climate change. It will test the possibilities of protecting bee colonies against specific local climatic changes by searching for strategies of adaptation of beehive and apiary characteristics. This project will build scientific knowledge on the beehive by combining two different methodologies: empirical surveys from beekeepers, and experimental/numerical analysis of the thermal behavior of hives on-site, using data on wood, hive construction materials, thermal sciences and climate change scenarios.

The innovation of our working method consists in combining field investigation in anthropology and numerical modeling in mechanics of the wood material (thermal sciences). This perspective of co-constructed knowledge for adaptation of the hive to climate change relies on the confrontation of empirical human knowledge and quantitative data from measurement or evaluation tools.

Start/end date: 01/09/2022 – 31/10/2023

Project Number : 2101-022

Links: https://www.agropolis-fondation.fr/How-to-Adapt-Beehive-To-climATe-Change