Digital Lighting Technologies to Control Galleria Mellonella Behavior

Abstract

The authors found out that the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) harmed bee colonies by destroying up to 30 percent of honey in a beehive. They studied the results of experiments on controlling its behavior using a developed automated microprocessor system that maintained optical radiation sources duration.(Research purpose) To develop light technologies using a microprocessor-based automated system that allows controlling Galleria mellonella behavior by realizing attractive optical radiation characteristics.(Materials and methods) Galleria mellonella behavior was controlled by an automated system that the authors worked out for maintaining the required duration of the experiment and optical radiation parameters. The ATmega328 microcontroller was chosen as the main element of the developed microprocessor automated system. The authors created a program for it using visual programming FLProg version 5.3.0.(Results and discussion) The authors found that, regardless of the experiment duration, Galleria mellonella butterflies prefered radiation with 400 nanometers wavelength.(Conclusions) The authors determined that radiation with 400 nanometers wavelength and 10 minutes duration was attractive. They showed the ability to control Galleria mellonella behavior, luring butterflies to a specific place in the beehive with comfortable spectrum parameters. An automated system for controlling the greater wax moth butterfly behavior was developed on ATmega328 microcontroller by implementing attractive optical radiation characteristics.