4 research outputs found
Multi-country loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2016/2017 from the COLOSS survey
Publication history: Accepted - 5 March 2018; Published online - 8 May 2018.In this short note we present comparable loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2016/2017 from 27 European
countries plus Algeria, Israel and Mexico, obtained with the COLOSS questionnaire. The 14,813 beekeepers providing
valid loss data collectively wintered 425,762 colonies, and reported 21,887 (5.1%, 95% confidence interval 5.0–5.3%)
colonies with unsolvable queen problems and 60,227 (14.1%, 95% CI 13.8–14.4%) dead colonies after winter. Additionally
we asked for colonies lost due to natural disaster, which made up another 6,903 colonies (1.6%, 95% CI 1.5–1.7%).
This results in an overall loss rate of 20.9% (95% CI 20.6–21.3%) of honey bee colonies during winter 2016/2017, with
marked differences among countries. The overall analysis showed that small operations suffered higher losses than larger
ones (p < 0.001). Overall migratory beekeeping had no significant effect on the risk of winter loss, though there
was an effect in several countries. A table is presented giving detailed results from 30 countries. A map is also included,
showing relative risk of colony winter loss at regional level.The authors are also grateful to various national funding
sources for their support of some of the monitoring surveys
[including, in the Republic of Serbia, MPNTR-RS, through grant
number III46002]. The authors acknowledge the financial support
by the University of Graz for open access publication
Preliminary Analysis of Loss Rates of Honey Bee Colonies During Winter 2015/16 from the Coloss Survey
In this short note we present comparable loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from 29 countries, obtained with the COLOSS questionnaire. Altogether, we received valid answers from 19,952 beekeepers. These beekeepers collectively wintered 421,238 colonies, and reported 18,587 colonies with unsolvable queen problems and 32,048 dead colonies after winter. This gives an overall loss rate of 12.0% (95% confidence interval 11.8-12.2%) during winter 2015/16, with marked differences among countries. Beekeepers in the present study assessed 7.6% (95% CI 7.4-7.8%) of their colonies as dead or empty, and 4.4% (95% CI 4.3-4.5%) as having unsolvable queen problems after winter. The overall analysis showed that small operations suffered higher losses than larger ones. A table with detailed results and a map showing response and relative risks at regional level are presented.WoSScopu