ASU’s Bee Lab Annex is one of the largest bee research centers in the U.S.
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Honey bees prefer to live in green areas like gardens, orchards or woodlands. But one of the largest bee labs in the country is right here in the desert at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus in Mesa.
According to Amalie Strange, a Ph.D. candidate at ASU, beekeepers have a great sense of humor.
"If you feel sweat going down your back, that’s sweat. If you feel sweat going up your back, that’s a bee," said Strange. "Yeah, one time one got up to my armpit. Yeah, that was — I think that’s the most interesting area that I’ve ever been stung. Usually it’s just on the fingertips though, because that’s the part that’s actually interacting with the bees."
Strange studies animal behavior, with a focus on bees. She does a lot of work at ASU’s Bee Lab Annex, which is located off a little gravely road near the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The road leads to a few small one-story metal buildings that look like large storage sheds. One building has lab setups, other rooms are for researchers to work and look after bees. One room is just for extracting honey. Strange’s project is inside one of the rooms with lab equipment.
Propped up by a short tower of cinderblocks, four frames full of live bees are stacked on top of each other and enclosed in plexiglass. Nearby is a camera and a light.
"These are the explanation hives that I use for my research. I do zoom beehive tours for elementary schools," said Strange. "I’ll start a zoom call and I’ll be able to get up really close to these observation hives that we have, and so I’m able to show children the different parts of the hive. They’re able to see where the brood comb is, that’s where the queen lays all the eggs. They’re able to see where the honey storage is and I’m able to point out some interesting behaviors that children might be interested in."
The bees Strange uses for her beehive tours aren’t trapped in their plexiglass home. A little tunnel leads outside, where there are around 100 other bee colonies — adding up to millions of bees.
On the metal fence next to the entrance to the outside area where the bees are kept, a lighthearted yellow “BEE CROSSING” sign hangs above a more serious sign that reads “CAUTION/DO NOT ENTER/BEES.”
This outdoor area, which measures about 5,000 square feet, doesn’t look super high-tech. To the left there’s a table with smokers, which look like the oil can the tin man uses in the Wizard of Oz. They’re used to mellow out the bees before opening colonies. To the right, there’s a rectangle of gravel that’s about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet surrounded by shade trees. Each colony is in a white wooden box with a yellow numbered label — complete with an ASU logo, of course. Some of the colonies are under a black canopy. Others are out in the sun near some trees. As long as they have water, they’re able to survive the unrelenting Arizona heat.
The bees are all under the care of Cahit Ozturk. He’s been overseeing the Bee Lab Annex for a decade. In the past 30 years, Ozturk has conducted research about bees, lectured about bees and he’s been a beekeeper — both commercially and just for fun.
"I started beekeeping in Turkey. I started interest when I was really small, like maybe elementary school kids," said Ozturk. "There was a local beekeeper in my town. When I went to college, animal science department, I learned farm animals, I took all farm animal classes. When I took the beekeeping class, I’m really interested. I said that time I’m gonna be a beekeeper."
Around the bees, Ozturk is totally zen. He doesn’t bother covering his skin with a jumpsuit or gloves. He even holds a bee between his fingers so we can get a closer look. He says he’ll wear the whole beekeeping getup when spending more time around the bees — but mostly to set a good example.
Researchers study things like the effect of heat on bee behavior or how fungicides — which were previously considered safe for the insects — can be harmful for bee learning and memory.
With so many bees, the bee lab has to be producing a lot of honey.
Essentially, the bees are helping pay for the supplies used to keep them alive. If you pick up honey from Crockett Honey in Tempe, it may be from ASU’s bees.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Amalie Strange's name.
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