Study of honey bees

The second and final report regarding recently finished pan-European epidemiological research on honey bee colony losings (EPILOBEE 2012-2014 ) has been made by the EU reference laboratory for bee wellness. The aim of the two-year programme was to get a state of play of honey-bee colony losses on a harmonised basis in each one of the participating Member shows.

At the same time, the main honey bee diseases had been examined predicated on situation meanings and sampling protocols given by the EURL. This report aims at showing the main outcomes of the next year of EPILOBEE on colony mortality and on the prevalence of infectious and parasitic conditions, and to compare these outcomes with those acquired during the previous year.

The mortality rates for winter 2013 – 2014 revealed a narrower range (2.4percent to 15.4%) compared to the death rates noticed during the winter 2012 – 2013. The decrease in overwintering colony death rates during these two years is apparent. However, it has to-be interpreted with care. Hence, the decrease in colony losings observed during 2013 – 2014 are going to be completely analysed, carefully translated and put into perspective in cooperation with the European Food security Authority. The EPILOBEE task had been co-financed because of the European Commission (3, 3 mEUR and 1, 85 mEUR correspondingly) by the 17 participating EU nations.

Overwintering colony mortality (cold temperatures 2012 – 2013 and cold temperatures 2013 – 2014)

Figure 1: cold temperatures colony mortality prices when you look at the Member States regarding the eu recorded in:

EPILOBEE 2012 – 2013 (Revised map):

EPILOBEE 2013 – 2014:

Some conclusions after two years associated with research

• Prices of colony mortality differed from year to some other towards a decline in the next year.
• Significant local variations in colony losings had been also observed.
• Climate could have affected winter colony losses across 2 yrs.
• European and nationwide surveillance systems benefited from this knowledge.
• It'll facilitate future utilization of jobs (e.g. explanatory scientific studies) learning various other risk aspects influencing colony wellness.

Its powerful methodology could be implemented and made use of as required, adapted to particular needs as suitable for further work eg applied analysis, plan development, routine surveillance or to cross-check with data from other sources (e.g. from nationwide or local monitoring, from intercontinental standardised beekeeper surveys etc.).

Background: a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) project in 2009 indicated your honey bee surveillance systems inside EU associate States were weak. There is deficiencies in representative official data at country level and similar information at EU degree to approximate the extent of colony mortalities.

Using the guidance and technical help associated with EU reference laboratory plus the national guide laboratories, the prior research (EPILOBEE 2012-2013 ) addressed the very first time these weaknesses by harmonising the information collection methods.