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🦠 The Epidemiology of Bee Disease Spread

A landscape-scale 3D model of Varroa and viral disease spreading between apiaries, showing how apiary density, forager drift range, migratory transport and regional treatment coordination change outbreak dynamics.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DAdvanced60 FPS

A landscape of apiaries, each a small cluster of hives colour-coded from healthy green to outbreak red, connected by forager-drift links that carry Varroa mites and viruses between colonies — with an optional migratory truck that can seed infection far outside normal drift range.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Local spread scales with apiary density and forager drift range, while long-distance migratory transport can jump infection between apiaries that would never otherwise be in contact — and synchronised regional treatment suppresses the whole network at once rather than one apiary at a time.

🎮 How to Use

Raise apiary density or drift range to watch outbreaks spread faster through more transmission links. Toggle migratory transport to see long-range jumps, and toggle regional treatment coordination to see the whole landscape cool back down toward green.

💡 Did You Know?

Because migratory beekeepers move colonies to follow pollination contracts, apiaries clustered near major bloom events can temporarily reach densities and mixing rates far higher than any stationary apiary would ever see on its own.

⚙ Under the hood

beesdiseasespreadapiariesvarroavirusesmodelingepidemiologyThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install