全球传粉媒介的减少迫切需要有效的方法来评估其趋势,分布和行为。被动声学是一种非侵入性和成本有效的监测工具,越来越多地用于监测动物群落。然而,昆虫的声音仍然高度未被探索,阻碍了这种技术在传粉者中的应用。为了克服这一不足,支持未来的发展,我们记录和表征了各种伊比利亚家庭和野生蜜蜂的翼拍声音,并测试了它们与分类学的关系,形态学,特定间和特定内水平的行为和环境特征。使用定向麦克风和机器学习,我们揭示了蜜蜂拍翼声音的声学特征及其用于物种识别和监测的潜力。我们的结果表明,拍翼声音的频率与体型和环境温度呈负相关(物种间分析),而它与实验诱导的应激条件(个体内分析)呈正相关。我们还在欧洲蜜蜂中发现了一种特征性的声学特征,该特征支持从野生蜜蜂池中对这种蜜蜂进行自动分类,为传粉者的被动声学监测铺平了道路。总的来说,这些发现证实了昆虫在飞行活动中的声音可以提供对个体和物种特征的见解,因此提出了这种濒危动物群体的新颖和有希望的应用。本文是“迈向全球昆虫生物多样性监测工具包”主题的一部分。
Global pollinator decline urgently requires effective methods to assess their trends, distribution and behaviour. Passive acoustics is a non-invasive and cost-efficient monitoring tool increasingly employed for monitoring animal communities. However, insect sounds remain highly unexplored, hindering the application of this technique for pollinators. To overcome this shortfall and support future developments, we recorded and characterized wingbeat sounds of a variety of Iberian domestic and wild bees and tested their relationship with taxonomic, morphological, behavioural and environmental traits at inter- and intra-specific levels. Using directional microphones and machine learning, we shed light on the acoustic signature of bee wingbeat sounds and their potential to be used for species identification and monitoring. Our results revealed that frequency of wingbeat sounds is negatively related with body size and environmental temperature (between-species analysis), while it is positively related with experimentally induced stress conditions (within-individual analysis). We also found a characteristic acoustic signature in the European honeybee that supported automated classification of this bee from a pool of wild bees, paving the way for passive acoustic monitoring of pollinators. Overall, these findings confirm that insect sounds during flight activity can provide insights on individual and species traits, and hence suggest novel and promising applications for this endangered animal group. This article is part of the theme issue \'Towards a toolkit for global insect biodiversity monitoring\'.