A new study from Laurentian University is using honeybee DNA to better understand the impacts of climate change—and if you’re a hobby farmer or a cottager with bees aon your property, you might be able to help.
Mateus Pepinelli, an assistant professor at Laurentian’s School of Natural Sciences, is developing a device that bee farmers can insert into bee hives to gather environmental DNA, which can be used to help monitor changes to plant life over time.
Photo courtesy Mateus Pepinelli
“I’m really excited,” says Pepinelli. “It’s going to be unique, in the sense of monitoring long term data collection of a different number of species.” The devices will gather environmental DNA—or DNA shed by organisms that can be found in the environment—collected by bees in their pollen.
“With environmental DNA, we are looking at traces of DNA,” he says. “However, the molecular biology behind it, you really only need a very small fragment of DNA.”
Despite only containing trace amounts of DNA, Pepinelli says the information present in the samples he gathers will help him track changes to the plant life cycles. “If you have a garden, you know different plants will flower at different times throughout the season,” he says. “The bees will go there, and they will collect that data for us.”
Pepinelli plans to collect samples over the next decade, so that he can monitor the flowering habits of plants year-by-year and determine how they are being impacted by climate change. Honeybees are particularly well-suited for this study, as they can help create a large dataset. Honeybee hives can contain 10,000 to 20,000 bees, and they collect pollen from a wide range of plants.
“Honeybees are really good generalist pollinators, which means they will forage most of the flowers out there,” says Pepinelli.
Pepinelli’s devices can also be used to gather bacteria and pathogen samples, which can help farmers better understand the well-being of their bees. “Beekeepers are really interested in, ‘How are my honey bees doing? Are they healthy or not?’” he says. “This method has some potential to get information about honeybee health.”
The collection devices resemble a computer fan, and they contain a small paper filter, which gathers the environmental DNA. Similar devices have been used to collect information for other research projects—such as a study about bats in Belize—says Pepinelli.
Photo courtesy Mateus Pepinelli
Farmers can install these devices into their beehives, which is a non-intrusive way to conduct the research.“One cool thing about working with environmental DNA is that it’s not invasive. Keepers don’t have to open their colonies, and they don’t have to collect the specimens,” he says. “It’s really about filtering the air.”
Pepinelli says he’ll eventually be looking to build a network of devices across Ontario, where there are over 3,000 beekeepers. He also says he’d be happy to work with smaller hobby farmers or cottagers with bee colonies at their properties.
Unfortunately for those hoping to get involved, the full-scale launch of the project may still be a few years off. While the device has been tested on a small scale, the next step is to further develop the device so that it requires less maintenance from beekeepers.
From there, Pepinelli will do a pilot project in partnership with local beekeepers in Sudbury, Ont., and at an apiary coming to Laurentian University.
The final step—the creation of the device network from Niagara to Timmins—is planned for 2026. While 2026 is still a few years away, Pepinelli says his project is already being met with excitement from the beekeeping community.
“Last week, I had a beekeeper visiting me, and he was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to help you! I want to hear about your research,’” he says. “It’s been an amazing experience.”
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