Context Honey bees provide multiple ecosystem services. Comparisons of coupled social-ecological systems (SES) can improve the understanding of the factors affecting honey bees and beekeeping. Objectives Stressing the need for SES analyses, we explore beekeepers’ perceived factors affecting bees and beekeeping, test the hypothesis that honey bee colony losses are associated to agricultural land use intensity, and discuss the role of beekeeping for rural development. Methods We used as a case study the steep gradient in SES in Ukraine’s Chernivtsi region with three strata: (i) traditional villages, (ii) intermediate and (iii) intensive agriculture. In each stratum, we analysed the social system using five open-ended focus groups. Regarding the ecological system, we analysed data about winter loss rate of honey bee colonies, number of colonies per beekeeper, the average amount of supplemental feeding, and proportion of beekeepers treating against Varroa mite. Results Thirty-three themes were extracted, of which 73% concerned the social system at multiple levels of governance. The number of themes increased from the traditional stratum with higher winter colony losses to the intensive agriculture stratum with lower losses. This does not support the hypothesis that the intensive agriculture per se affect honey bees negatively. Conclusions Social system factors dominate over ecological factors, and interact across scales. This requires systems analyses of honey bees and beekeeping. We see beekeeping as a social innovation enhancing stakeholders’ navigation in social systems, thus supporting rural development in countries in transition like Ukraine.

Decline of honey bee colonies remains a global problem. It may affect catastrophically both ecosystems and the global economy. Here we present the results of the fourth year of a research project on bee colony losses in Ukraine over winter 2017-2018, conducted in the framework of international monitoring coordinated by the non-profit honey bee research association COLOSS. Overall winter loss rate and the mortality rate over winter 2017-2018 were significantly lower compared to the previous year: overall winter loss rate – 11.3% (95 % СІ 10.0-12.6); mortality rate – 6.7% (95 % СІ 5.8-7.7); rate of colony loss due to unsolvable queen problems – 2.1% (95 % СІ 1.6-2.7) and due to natural disasters – 2.4% (95 % СІ 2.0-3.0). Likewise previous years, the highest losses were observed in small operations (with 50 or fewer colonies). The highest overall loss rate was observed in the Steppe zone, with the highest both mortality rate and losses due to natural disasters compared to the other physiographic zones of Ukraine. Minimum mortality was recorded from deciduous forests 5.6 % (95 % CI 4.4-7.2) and the Ukrainian Carpathians 5.5 % (95 % CI 4.2-7.2). Winter losses related to queen problems varied greatly with a minimum in the Forest-Steppe zone 0.71 % (95 % CI 0.3-1.5). 83.3% of beekeepers treated their colonies against Varroa. The r-rank correlation analysis identified two potential risk factors (no or only a few dead bees in or in front of the empty hive; dead workers in cells and no food present) which revealed a weak positive correlation with both mortality rate and the rate of losses due to unsolvable queen problems.

Increasing of honey bee colony losses is considered to be a global threat to the planet's ecosystems, food security and global economy (Neumann & Carreck, 2010;van der Zee et al., 2012;van der Zee et al., 2014;Chauzat et al., 2016). A large-scale study of this phenomenon using the standard protocol is conducted by the international honey bee research association COLOSS.Ukraine has been providing the data since 2015. Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colony losses in Ukraine after the winter of 2015-2016 have been analyzed according to the physiographic zones of the country. It has been established that the total loss (the sum of the dead colonies and the colonies lost due to the unsolvable queen problems) after the winter of 2015-2016 was 9.9%, which is 1.5 times lower compared to the winter of 2014-2015 (14.9%). The losses due to colonies death decreased (6.3% after the winter of 2015-2016; 13.4% after the winter of [2014][2015], while the losses due to the unsolvable queen problems increased (3.6% after the winter of 2015-2016; 1.6% after the winter of [2014][2015]. The overall loss rate of 12.0% was recorded for the countries participating in the international COLOSS monitoring after the winter of 2015-2016, therefore Ukraine is considered to be the region with the comparatively low risk. Small apiaries had a significantly higher loss rate than medium and large ones. The highest loss rate was noticed in the zone of mixed forests, whereas it was the lowest in the deciduous forest zone. The majority of the respondents (44.4%) from the mixed forest zone, where the loss due to the unsolvable queen problems reached the largest scale, noted that the problems with the queens after this winter were more serious than usual, and wintering of the colonies with new queens was better, than with the old ones (83.3%). 64.4% of respondents conducted monitoring of Varroa infestation level of their colonies, and 82.5% treated the colonies against Varroa. The correlation between the use of some chemical and biotechnical methods against Varroa (lactic acid, amitraz, formic acid, hyperthermia, etc.) and losses due to both colonies death and unsolvable queen problems was revealed. It has been shown that queen replacement before winter contributes to lowering winter mortality (r = -0.18).

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