A COLONY of honeybees is producing a buzz on the College of Dundee Botanic Backyard after the set up of a 3D-printed wood log hive.
Combining indigenous information and expertise, the 3D-printed hive was put in in late June and is already serving to the backyard to counteract the destructive impacts of urbanisation.
The hive on the Botanic Backyard is one in every of solely two worldwide, pioneered by the Lacrima Basis.
Offering bees the chance to dwell in an undisturbed ecosystem in synergy with their seasonal rhythms, the hive adopts a regenerative strategy to study from nature.
The pure nest habitat has been facilitated for the renewal of well being and resiliency of honeybees, appearing as an alternative choice to the factitious agricultural mannequin of ‘housing’ bees.
The bees in Dundee have already voted with their wings, with a pure colonisation having moved in inside 5 days of set up.
Kevin Frediani, Curator of the Botanic Backyard, mentioned: “We’re so thrilled to not solely host the hive as a public exhibition, however to see it so rapidly colonised.
“[This provides] additional proof that we will really make a distinction as we profit from studying from nature to assist enhance our city setting.”
Every hive can home as much as 50,000 honeybees, creating an setting to foster the final word state of affairs during which the bees can maximise their copy and regeneration.
The brand new residents in Dundee now profit from the resilience and ranges of well being which might be recognized to be current in wild populations of honeybees residing in most of these hives.
Vince Moucha, founding father of the Lacrima Basis, mentioned: “We’re deeply honoured, grateful and extremely excited to determine this dynamic partnership with the College of Dundee Botanic Backyard.
“Their true understanding of underlying points, akin to habitat loss ensuing from the rising unfold of farming and different human actions, parasites and illnesses, and the influence of poisonous pesticides, aligns completely with our biomimicry venture.
“This part efficiently concludes our preliminary pilot programme, and we’re presently making ready a crowdfunding marketing campaign on Kickstarter to help the following stage of mass manufacturing for our 3D-printed log hives.”
The Botanic Backyard has been on a rewilding mission for the previous three years as a part of a demonstrator pilot to encourage others to assist the Rewilding Dundee venture.
The Backyard has decreased its dependency on fossil fuel-powered lawnmowers and as an alternative launched wildflower meadows.
Employees on the Backyard have additionally eliminated using pesticides whereas enhancing the ecological range within the habitats it maintains and interprets.
