Mathematical Programming Models for Determining the Optimal Location of Beehives

Issue Date

3-2014

Abstract

Farmers frequently decide where to locate the colonies of their domesticated eusocial bees, especially given the following mutually exclusive scenarios: (i) there are limited nectar and pollen sources within the vicinity of the apiary that cause competition among foragers; and (ii) there are fewer pollinators compared to the number of inflorescence that may lead to suboptimal pollination of crops. We hypothesize that optimally distributing the beehives in the apiary can help address the two scenarios stated above. In this paper, we develop quantitative models (specifically using linear programming) for addressing the two given scenarios. We formulate models involving the following factors: (i) fuzzy preference of the beekeeper; (ii) number of available colonies; (iii) unknown-but-bounded strength of colonies; (iv) probabilistic carrying capacity of the plant clusters; and (v) spatial orientation of the apiary. © 2014 Society for Mathematical Biology.

Source or Periodical Title

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology

ISSN

0092-8240

Volume

76

Issue

5

Page

997-1016

Document Type

Article

Physical Description

tables, diagrams, figures

Language

English

Subject

Apis mellifera, Beekeeping, Bumblebees, Crop pollination, Pollination management, Stingless bees

Identifier

doi:10.1007/s11538-014-9943-9.

Digital Copy

yes

Link to Full Text

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