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ANNO 1 Numero 1
Iris Bernardinelli, Giorgio Della Vedova [1]
Use of GIS in the management of apiculture: preliminary note

[1] Dip. Biologia applicata alla Difesa delle Piante, Università di Udine, Italy

By using the Geographic Information System (GIS), a simplified world can be visualised on a computer. Different techniques can be then applied to analyse data and lay the foundations for decision making.

Apiculture is strongly related to the territory so GIS can be a useful tool for its management.

In this work an example of the use of GIS in apiculture is provided considering apiary distribution and honey potentially available for honeybees.

The area studied is in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (north-eastern Italy) and has a surface of 73 km2 (66% of which is woodland). From a map showing the type of forest (drawn by the regional Forest Service) those containing Acer, Robinia, Castanea or Tilia were extracted to make the honey productive forest type map. In the study the position of each apiary was determined using a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver.

All data (apiary number, coordinates, number of hives, etc.) were inserted into a GIS database to create a map of apiary distribution and other related thematic maps. From the map of apiary distribution a foraging area of 1 km radius was created and a map of hive density in the optimum flying area was elaborated by summing the hive numbers present in the overlaying areas. From the honey forest types map the potential production map was created using available data on nectar production for each tree species considered. These maps can be then overlaid so the of potential honey sources available for each hive can be calculated.

This system can support decision making in migratory beekeeping by finding highly used areas and underused ones.

Contact: iris.bernardinelli@uniud.it