Drones used to stop the spread of the dreaded Asian wasp

Drones have become so much more than a tool for taking beautiful pictures or for recording videos. They have become a key method for farmers, who are using drones to eradicate pests and an instrument to measure whales and infer their weight for scientists. 

Farmers in the U.S were the first ones to discover drones as a pest repellent. Apple orchards in the U.S were ruined by moths so the farmers used drones to spray their fields with sterile insects to disrupt the mating of the moths. This is an old method of biological control, but now instead of using cars, they are using a much more efficient method, drones.

Americans are not the only ones with ideas of this type. In Spain, there are also companies that offer solutions based on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to control pests. This is the case of the Galician start-up Aerocamaras, which a few months ago presented the 'Drone velutina 2.0', a drone that is used to detect, neutralize and destroy Asian wasp nests.

In the last 15 years, the Asian wasp Vespa velutina, which feeds on honey bees, has become one of the worst nightmares of Spanish beekeepers, because their populations in Spain do not stop growing and each specimen of the species can eat between 25 and 50 bees a day.

The species entered Europe through France in 2005. Five years later, in 2010, the first nests were detected in Gipuzkoa and Navarra, very close to the French border. In Catalonia, however, the first specimens of this Asian wasp were not detected until 2012.

Nowadays, this species, which originated in Southeast Asia, is found in practically all of Europe, where its greatest enemy is the European bee-eater (Pernis apivorus), a bird of prey that loves these wasps. In fact, it is capable of preying on their nests even at times of maximum activity and productivity of the colonies, which coincide with those of greatest need to feed on the beekeeper.

Using high-tech sensors, 'Drone Velutina 2.0' can detect the height of the wasps, identify the exact location of the combs and remove them by injecting a species-safe liquid in record time. 

Aerocamaras has just been awarded the 'Innovation in Company' prize, which is given every year at this time by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) and the consulting firm PGS. Both the CEOE and PGS have highlighted the potential and capacity of the Galician start-up to work within an open innovation model.

Data published by La Vanguardia a year ago indicated that there were about 100,000 nests of this invasive wasp in Galicia. A study conducted by Salvador Rebollo, professor of ecology at the University of Alcalá de Henares, in collaboration with ornithological naturalist José Manuel Fernández, indicated in 2018 that the European bee-eater (bird with the scientific name Pernis apivorus) could be a natural predator for the invasive species.

The European bee-eater is a bird of prey that feeds on wasps and bumblebees, so the researchers believed it was a potential predator for the velutina. To try to find out, they detected its nests and installed cameras and motion sensors, so that every time a young bird moved or an adult arrived, it took a picture every 30 or 40 seconds.