Spatiotemporal analysis of pollinator bee biodiversity using artificial intelligence in Fars Province, Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, I. R. Iran

2 Shiraz UniversityDepartment of Plant Protection, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, I. R. Iran

Abstract

Given the key role of pollinator bees in enhancing the yield and quality of horticultural crops and the growing concerns regarding their population decline in recent years in Fars Province, precise monitoring of biodiversity trends in these insects has become essential. In this study, we integrated existing occurrence reports with satellite imagery analysis over a ten-year period (2013-2023) to investigate the changes in pollinator bee diversity across Fars Province. Analysis of biodiversity indices in the R software environment revealed a 36.8% reduction in documented species richness (from 38 to 24 species) and a 50% decline in the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (from 2.40 to 1.20). Processing of satellite imagery within the Google Earth Engine platform identified a 2.2 °C increase in mean annual temperature and a 30% decrease in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as critical environmental drivers. The application of the preliminary YOLOv8 (You Only Look Once) object detection model for automated identification of species from archival images detected a 40% decline in the relative abundance of the vulnerable dwarf honeybee (Apis florea Fabricius), with a per-class precision of 94% for this species. Furthermore, spatial hot spot analysis of population decline revealed that the western regions of the province (specifically Kazerun county) have experienced the most severe losses. Overall, this study underscores the urgent need for a revision of current environmental and agricultural policies to preserve pollinator biodiversity in Fars Province.

Graphical Abstract

Spatiotemporal analysis of pollinator bee biodiversity using artificial intelligence in Fars Province, Iran

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References

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Iran Agricultural Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 19 September 2026

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