Bees Used for Geographic Profiling to Track Criminals

For what is probably the first time in history, biologists and criminologists are teaming up to test geographic profiling outside of a search for a criminal. The involvement of the criminologists is not hard to explain, but why the biologists? Because the tests are being carried out on bumblebees.

Most of us would have heard of geographic profiling if we’ve spent any time in front of a TV. Television shows like Numb3rs and NCIS have used this technique to track down criminals. In short, it brings together two facts; the fact that the majority of major serial criminals will commit crimes close to their home, and the second fact being that, though close to home, there will be a buffer zone between their home and the crimes.

From this, mathematical models are able to extrapolate geographic zones in which the criminal is likely to reside. The technique was originally invented by Kim Rossmo, who is now working with Dr Nigel Raine, and Dr Steve Le Comber, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences in what is the first experiment on geographic profiling.

For obvious reasons, no experiments have been conducted before. It is not as if you want criminals running around the place simply to prove a theory.

But in a journal entry in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team has found that by observing bees foraging in a lab, combined with computer models of their behavior, they were able to use geographic profiling as a way to distinguish between different types of foraging behavior.

"GP is interesting to biologists because it can tell us which strategies animals use when foraging,” explained Dr Raine. “The approach works well for very different animals: from bees and bats to great white sharks."

As a result from these experiments, both criminologists and biologists are getting valuable information. The former are using these experiments as a way to tighten their techniques in searching for criminals, while the latter are finding out new things about bees.

For example, it looks as if bees create their own buffer zone around their hive, so that their foraging takes place well away from home, and diminishing the chance that predators will be able to find them. As such, just as with criminals, biologists can now find a beehive based on where they forage.

Posted by Josh Hill.

http://www.physorg.com/news136632956.html