Globally honeybees are threatened by a plethora of biotic and abiotic stressors. One factor of great concern is climate
change due to its direct impact on wild and agricultural ecosystems. Indeed beekeeping, with its symbiotic interdependence
with vegetation, is an industry that will be strongly affected by climate change. Although the Mediterranean is a region
that is highly vulnerable to climate change, no study has comprehensively analysed the possible effects on honeybees. The
MEDIBEES project aims to remedy this situation by studying the honeybee subspecies native to the Mediterranean region
and their resilience to climate change, in an attempt to safeguard the beekeeping sector. In this framework, the following
approaches were adopted to determine the common Practices, Challenges and Problems in the region and to identify
scientific gaps and solutions expected by beekeepers:
• Review of the effects of biotic and abiotic stressors on honeybee colonies as well as legislation in the MEDIBEES
consortium to identify common threats.
• Study of current challenges, priority areas considered by beekeepers as important to survive as an industry, beekeeping
practices and existing resources in each country to determine common trends and challenges across the Mediterranean.
• Analysis of the responses to a questionnaire distributed among 1160 beekeepers to obtain information on stakeholder
practices, challenges faced and the main problems encountered.
In this way, a profile of beekeeping activity and beekeepers in the region was obtained. The main challenges and problems
identified were: a) changes in weather patterns that could be affect colony dynamics, production losses and increasing
mortality; b) of incidence of pathogens in the area (Varroa destructor, Nosema ceranae, SBV and DWV) and the lack
of training programmes to control them; c) agricultural insecticides and acaricide residues. As main areas of interest,
beekeepers pointed out the possible existence of adapted ecotypes, the need for training to distinguish between hybrids
and purebreds, and the study of the effect that climate change will have on phenology and plant availability and on changes
in the distribution areas of pathogens in the area.
This project is part of the PRIMA programme supported by the European Union.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
