iHornets

iHornets is a mobile application designed to track temporal variations in the abundance of hornets (Vespa app.) in apiaries distributed across Europe. Quantifying these changes is essential for monitoring the impact of hornets, particularly invasive species, and for understanding the causes behind these variations both in space and time. This information is key to preventing and managing the damage that these species may cause in the beekeeping sector.

The application is very easy to use. After registering an apiary and providing its location at the municipal level, the beekeeper can begin counting hornets at the registered site. To do so, they must stand in front of a hive and, once the app’s timer is activated, count the hornets flying in front of the hive entrance for 30 seconds. This process can be repeated as many times as desired, thus generating numerous records over time.

Participants in the project will be able to consult their data through the mobile application and graphically visualize the evolution of hornets abundance at their apiaries. Based on the information collected by different beekeepers from various locations across Europe, the project team will be able to produce a map of hornet expansion and local abundances in each territory, which will be made publicly available.

iHornets has been developed by the University of Girona (UdG), in collaboration with the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), within the framework of project PID2023-149487OA-I00, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER/UE. Its development was inspired by the mobile application Alerta Velutina (www.alertavelutina.net), created with the support of the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (Operation 01.02.01 on Technology Transfer of the Rural Development Programme of Catalonia 2014–2022).