Prototype Biodiversity Digital Twin: Honey Bees in Agricultural Landscapes

Honey bees are vital to human well-being and are under multiple stresses. We need to be able to assess the viability and productivity of honey bee colonies in different landscapes and under different management and climate change scenarios. We have developed a prototype digital twin, HONEYBEE-pDT, based on the BEEHAVE model, which simulates foraging, population dynamics and Varroa mite infestation of a single honey bee colony. The main input data are land cover maps and daily weather data. Users can run the pDT for a specific site or for larger areas, up to the whole of Germany. Hive weight data from hundreds of hives will be used for calibration and validation.