Dr Jonathan Pattrick will join the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford. Now entering its third year, the interdisciplinary programme is helping to accelerate the next scientific revolution by applying artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to research across the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematical sciences.
Jonathan’s research aims to find out how bees optimise their foraging – an energetically costly activity. Most bee species only have a brief seasonal window to collect enough nectar and pollen to survive and reproduce. Over the last 50 years, pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss have made this challenge harder, and bees have been in decline as a result.
Working in collaboration with experts in miniaturised sensor design from The University of Sheffield, Jonathan will fit bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with micro-accelerometers – or ‘bee backpacks’ – to record the motion and muscle activity of individual bees. Using machine learning techniques, he will then use the accelerometer data to identify the time dedicated to different behaviours such as flying, flower visiting, and body temperature regulation (thermogenesis), giving unparalleled detail on bumblebee foraging trips.
Jonathan also plans to identify the general type of flowers that a bumblebee is visiting and distinguish between nectar and pollen foraging. When pollen foraging, bumblebees have distinct behaviours like vibrating flowers for ‘buzz-pollination’ – which is energetically expensive – giving characteristic accelerometer data.
This will help us understand the energetic factors that influence the choices bees make about which flowers to visit. Existing technology is not only expensive but isn’t sensitive enough to distinguish between the different behaviours – Jonathan’s work combining cheaper tech and machine learning will allow him to delve into this understudied area.
Jonathan’s research could have wider impacts, potentially enabling scientists to quantify the floral resources needed to support bee populations and to optimise the nectar and pollen rewards of crops to increase pollination. Over 70% of global food crops are animal pollinated, making us heavily reliant on them for our food security.
To read more about the new cohort of Fellows, visit: https://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/latest/news/oxford-welcomes-new-schmidt-ai-in-science-fellows
