Artificially Intelligent Foraging

Bumble bees are significant pollinators of many plants, and are particularly attracted to mass-flowering crops such as Oilseed Rape, which they cross-pollinate. The assessment of pollinator-mediated cross-pollination events could be important when considering containment strategies of genetically modified (GM) crops, such as GM varieties of Oilseed Rape, but requires a landscape-scale understanding of pollinator movements.In this book, a simulation approach to understanding landscape-scale bumble bee movements is presented. HARVEST is a computer simulation that uses Artificial Intelligence techniques and Agent Based Modelling to predict the landscape-scale foraging patterns of Bumble Bees. The details of the model are explained, and the model is validated at the small-patch scale to demonstrate its capabilities. The model is then used to make landscape-scale predictions of the potential impact of Bumble Bees in a landscape containing both GM and non-GM crops. Potential GM containment strategies are also reviewed.