A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control

Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed

Determination of Floral Origin Markers of Latvian Honey by Using IRMS, UHPLC-HRMS, and 1H-NMR

The economic significance of honey production is crucial; therefore, modern and efficient methods of authentication are needed. During the last decade, various data processing methods and a combination of several instrumental methods have been increasingly used in food analysis. In this study, the chemical composition of monofloral buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), clover (Trifolium repens), heather (Calluna vulgaris), linden (Tilia cordata), rapeseed (Brassica napus), willow (Salix cinerea), and polyfloral honey samples of Latvian origin were investigated using several instrumental analysis methods. The data from light stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis methods were used in combination with multivariate analysis to characterize honey samples originating from Latvia. Results were processed using the principal component analysis (PCA) to study the potential possibilities of evaluating the differences between honey of different floral origins. The results indicate the possibility of strong differentiation of heather and buckwheat honeys, and minor differentiation of linden honey from polyfloral honey types. The main indicators include depleted δ15N values for heather honey protein, elevated concentration levels of rutin for buckwheat honey, and qualitative presence of specific biomarkers within NMR for linden honey

Risk indicators affecting honeybee colony survival in Europe : one year of surveillance

The first pan-European harmonized active epidemiological surveillance program on honeybee colony mortality (EPILOBEE) was set up across 17 European Member States to estimate honeybee colony mortality over winter and during the beekeeping season. In nine Member States, overwinter losses were higher and statistically different from the empirical level of 10 % under which the level of overwinter mortality was considered as acceptable with usual beekeeping conditions. In four other countries, these losses were lower. Using multivariable Poisson regression models, it was showed that the size of the operation and apiary and the clinically detected varroosis, American foulbrood (AFB), and nosemosis before winter significantly affected 2012-2013 overwinter losses. Clinically detected diseases, the size of the operation and apiary, and the non-participation to a common veterinary treatment significantly affected 2013 summer losses. EPILOBEE was a prerequisite to implement future projects studying risk factors affecting colony health such as multiple and co-exposure to pesticides