Monitoring insect pollination in strawberry and raspberry crop polytunnels

Over one third of crops are animal pollinated, with
insects being the largest group. In some crops, including strawberries, yield,
fruit weight, quality, aesthetics and shelf life increase with insect
pollination. Many crops are protected from extreme weather in polytunnels, but
the impacts of polytunnels on insects are poorly understood. Polytunnels could
reduce pollination services, especially if insects have access issues. Here we
examine the distribution and activity of honeybees and non-honeybee wild
insects on a commercial fruit farm. We evaluated whether insect distributions
are impacted by flower type (strawberry; raspberry; weed), or distance from
polytunnel edges. We compared passive pan-trapping and active
quadrat observations to establish their suitability for monitoring insect
distribution and behaviour on a farm. To understand the relative value of
honeybees compared to other insects for strawberry pollination, the primary
crop at the site, we enhanced our observations with video data analysed using
insect tracking software to document the time spent by insects on flowers.

This dataset includes
pan-trap and quadrat insect counts, and camera observations of honeybees
foraging in strawberry polytunnels. The
dataset also contains annotated images, pre-trained YOLOv2 object detection
model for honeybees, tracks of honeybees extracted using software, and the
results of the validation study for software performance.