A non-lethal native bee camera trap to support sustainable agriculture practice and environmental protection

Native bees provide essential pollination services in agriculture, in many cases proving more efficient in pollination than managed honey bees. Despite their critical role in US ecological infrastructure and essential natural resources, their continuous decline is widely recognized. Simultaneously, native bees remain understudied, with vast data gaps due to the laborious nature of native bee surveillance and the expertise required to identify them. This work seeks to address this limitation by developing a smart camera trap targeting native bees for remote detection and identification. Making hyper local pollinator diversity information more accessible could support agricultural practices that rely on native pollinators. Vectech’s prototype integrates components of standard pollinator traps such as the blue vane trap and bowl traps to attract diverse bee populations, yet removes their lethal component by allowing visitors to fly freely out of the trap. The trap camera will image visiting pollinators which will be detected with lightweight object detection computer vision algorithms and in future iterations, identify to the lowest taxonomic rank possible using Vectech's core species identification pipeline. The resulting product would empower farms to manage their local pollinators through strategic placement of pollinator gardens and habitats, ultimately benefiting their crop. By eliminating lethal trapping, conservation efforts will be supported and subsequently reduce labor burdens associated with pollinator surveillance. Preliminary data gathering includes testing the prototype in Baltimore, MD within established pollinator and community gardens to assess and iterate the camera trap to improve pollinator visitation and trap attractivity, and evaluate local native bee diversity.