COLOSS B-RAP expert evaluation of beekeeping advice from ChatGPT, part 1

The advanced language model ChatGPT is capable of understanding and generating human-like text. It can be integrated into various services, ranging from customer support to educational platforms, providing personalized assistance, information and guidance. For straightforward, low-complexity medical quest­ions, ChatGPT has been shown to have potential as an AI-assisted decision support tool in medicine (Harskamp & De Clercq, Citation2024). In apiculture, hive management is an important factor in maintaining healthy and productive honey bee colonies (Sperandio et al., Citation2019; Steinhauer et al., Citation2021). Artificial intelligence-based linguistic models could provide an easy-to-access advisory service in countries where no advisory services are available or to relieve advisors. At a workshop of the COLOSS core project B-RAP (Fabricius Kristiansen et al., Citation2022) held in Olomouc, Czechia, in February 2024, we, therefore, tested the ability of ChatGPT3.5 to deal with some common questions in beekeeping. The question formulation always included rough information on location and date and formulated the beekeeping-related problem as a question allowing an open answer. The panel of 13 experts present (researchers, beekeeping advisors, veterinarians), many of them beekeepers themselves, evaluated the answers

COLOSS survey : global impact of COVID-19 on bee research

The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on society have yet to be truly revealed; there is no doubt that the pandemic has severely affected the daily lives of most of humanity. It is to be expected that the research activities of scientists could be impacted to varying degrees, but no data exist on how COVID-19 has affected research specifically. Here, we show that the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already diversely and negatively affected bee research at a global level. An online survey disseminated through the global COLOSS honey bee research association showed that every participant (n¼230 from 56 countries) reported an impact on one or more of their activities. Activities that require travelling or the physical presence of people (meetings and conferences, teaching and extension) were affected the most, but also laboratory and field activities, daily operations, supervision and other activities were affected to varying degrees. Since the basic activities are very similar for many research fields, it appears as if our findings for bee research can be extrapolated to other fields. In the light of our data, we recommend that stakeholders such as governments and funding bodies who support research should facilitate the wide implementation of web-based information technology required for efficient online communication for research and education, as well as adequately loosened restriction measures with respect to field and laboratory work. Finally, increased flexibility in administration and extension of research grants and fellowships seem to be needed. It is apparent that adequate responses by all stakeholders are required to limit the impact of COVID-19 and future pandemics on bee science and other research fields.The Ricola Foundation Nature and Culture and Vetopharma.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjar20am2020Zoology and Entomolog

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

Honey bee pathogens and parasites in Swedish apiaries: a baseline study

This nation-wide survey including 382 Swedish apiaries is the first to document base-line information of the prevalence and distribution of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, the mite-associated viruses Deformed wing virus and Acute bee paralysis virus, and the bacterial honey bee pathogens Paenibacillus larvae and Melissococcus plutonius in the country. Varroa and associated viruses were not detected in the northern regions of the country. The bacterium P. larvae was detected in 6% of the investigated apiaries and it was absent in more than half of the counties, M. plutonius was detected in two apiaries in one county. Other results from our study include questionnaire responses, in which beekeepers reported total winter colony losses of 6.4%. Fifty-three percent of the beekeepers reported to have purchased queens the year preceding this study, and 40.1% moved colonies to the apiary. Queens were imported from European countries and the USA. The movements of bees were one of the factors strongly associated with the prevalence of the disease-causing organisms surveyed and colony losses. The majority of the participating beekeepers were not aware of any disease related signs in their apiaries despite positive laboratory findings. This highlights the importance of further outreach efforts to increase the beekeepers' awareness of diseases and disease management. The results provide a disease baseline for improvements of the surveillance system

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