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The bee population, which plays an important role in the ecosystem, is rapidly declining due to habitat destruction and pesticide abuse.

The increase in the number of wasps, the natural enemies of bees, is also a big concern, but recently, a method of clearing the law house with a location tracking system is also being used.



By Nam Jung-min, staff reporter.



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A round object hangs from the top of the roof.



This is the home of the 'back black wasp', which was designated as a domestic ecosystem disturbance species in 2019.



Unlike native wasps that infiltrate bee nests, they hunt in the air, and only heavy bees that come back from collecting honey are picked and caught one by one.



As soon as they are caught, only the body part of the bee is taken off, crushed, and then fed as larvae.



[Choi Moon-bo/Professor, Graduate School of Plant Epidemiology, Kyungpook National University: Because they are wasps specialized in bee hunting, there are many people who give up the beekeeping business because of (black-backed) wasps.

I have to pick honey in the spring, but the wasps catch almost all of them.

Approximately 30-40% are caught and thrown away.]



The damage to domestic beekeeping industry due to wasps is estimated to be around 200 billion won per year.



The United States is suffering from the influx of long-lived wasps, which are native to Korea.



Since it was first discovered in the Northwest of the United States three years ago, it has been called a 'murder wasp' and the government has been carrying out a sweeping operation.



We have also developed a technology that uses drones and thermal imaging cameras to find beehives by attaching a locator to a wasp.



Last June, I visited Korea to study the ecology of the long-lived wasp.



[Shawn Cleveland/Doctor of Biology, Pacific Lutheran University, USA: When you attach a chip to each long-lived wasp, it sends a beep, beep, signal.

By recognizing the sound, you can know exactly where the long-lived wasp is.

You can find out in 5 to 10 seconds.]



In Korea, we are using wasp traps or soaking wasps caught in medicine and sending them home to get rid of them, but the control effect is poor.



[Choi Moon-bo/Professor, Graduate School of Plant Epidemiology, Kyungpook National University: (Black wasp) There are thousands of bees in the hive itself, and more than 100 are born every day.

It's meaningless to catch dozens of traps.]



If bees disappear, food orchard crops will suffer and ecosystems may be disturbed, so we need to take more proactive measures.



(Video editing: Kim Byung-jik)