African elephants are killed in human-elephant conflicts that arise from migrating elephants marauding crops grown by villagers. The villagers depend on these crops for their entire yearly income and in anger, they fight to kill the elephants, causing deaths of both humans and elephants. One way to mitigate this conflict is to frighten away the elephants with the threat of being stung. Bee hive fences are built around the village croplands causing the elephants to seek alternate forage. The villagers are thrilled with this solution because the conflict has subsided and the villagers have a new source of income in honey sales. Dr. Jody Johnson will show slides and tell first hand stories about the success of bee hive fences in Tanzania.
Dr. Josephine (Jody) Johnson has a PhD in toxicology and has spent the last four years conducting summer research at the US Department of Agriculture on novel compounds that kill or arrest the life cycle of Varroa destructor, a destructive parasitic mite that plagues honey bee colonies nationwide. Past research efforts have focused on pesticide effects, nutritional studies, and electrostatic interactions between bees and flowers. In the last three years, she has been and continues to be engaged in a project in Tanzania in which honey bee hives are installed to deter migrating African elephants from raiding village croplands, thereby avoiding deadly human-elephant conflicts. During the academic year, she teaches classes in environmental science, chemistry, physical science, world pollinators, and the science of sustainability to college and other adult students. She has spoken at conferences nationally and internationally, and maintains a personal apiary of 16 bee hives for fun.