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.

Physical and chemical quality indicators of 65 polyfloral honey samples from three administrative districts of Chernivtsi region in South Western Ukraine were studied. The chosen administrative districts were Putyla (representing the ‘Traditional villages’ stratum), Storozhynets (the ‘Intermediate’ stratum) and Khotyn (the ‘Intensive agriculture’ stratum), which reflect a steep gradient of social and ecological conditions such as land cover and land use, level of economic development, culture and demography. The quality of honey was determined in accordance with the requirements of the Ukrainian national standard and the EU Directive relating to honey (or Codex Alimentarius Honey Standard) by using the following indicators: reducing sugars and moisture content, diastase activity, free acidity, pH, electrical conductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and proline content. The profile of carbohydrates was analyzed, in particular glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, trehalose, melezitose, raffinose. The ratio of fructose to glucose (F/G) was determined. All tested samples complied with the international standards for the mass fraction of reducing sugars, diastase activity and hydroxymethylfurfural content. For physical and chemical parameters, the studied honey samples were of high quality. The content of the reducing sugars in the honey samples varied within the range of 66.0–97.6%. The fructose content ranged from 342 to 549 mg/g, and the glucose content variation ranged within 283–517 mg/g. The average fructose/glucose ratio was 1.2 for honey samples from the three studied districts. Besides fructose and glucose, some oligosaccharides, such as maltose, trehalose and melezitose, were found in the examined honey. Melezitose was detected in the honey samples from ‘Traditional village’ (21 samples) and ‘Intermediate’ (5 samples) districts. The total variability of HMF content in the studied 65 honey samples from apiaries in the three districts of Chernivtsi region ranged from 0.19 to 30.8 mg/kg. The minimum moisture content was found to be 16.2% (in the ‘Traditional village’ and ‘Intermediate’ strata), and 22.2% was the maximum (in the ‘Intermediate’ stratum). Our studies have shown that free acidity of the samples varied within the range 13.5 to 58.0 meq/kg. Proline content variability for the three studied geographical areas ranged from 82.3 to 1201.2 mg/kg. The studied samples of honey had a low pH level (~ 3.7), high content of proline (~ 513 mg/kg) and reducing sugars (~ 80%), which indicates its nutritional value and naturalness. Deviations from the honey standards in moisture content, acidity and electrical conductivity was revealed in 8% to 10% of all samples.

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera L., Hymenoptera: Apidae) is a species of invaluable economic, agricultural and environmental importance. However, over the last decades, most countries around the world have faced serious problems of bee health and surviving. The purpose of this study was to analyze the success of A. mellifera colonies wintering in Ukraine (2020–2021). The research was conducted by interviewing practicing beekeepers according to a standardized protocol developed by the monitoring coordinators of the international association COLOSS. The total losses of bee colonies after the winter of 2020–2021 in Ukraine was 15.18%, having increased 1.6 times compared to the last year (9.29%). The mortality rate (8.93%) also increased (after the winter of 2019-2020 it was 5.41%). The rate of fatal problems with the queens (4.58%) increased 2.1 times (after the winter of 2019-2020 - 2.19%), while losses due to natural disasters did not change (1.7%). The highest total losses were recorded in the mixed forest and steppe zones: 23.7% and 21.6% respectively. Mor-tality varied in different physiographic zones from 7.22% to 12.79%; losses due to queen problems ranged from 2.79% to 12.01%. For the first time we found that the loss rate due to queen problems (12.01%) prevails over the mor-tality rate (10.34%) in the mixed forest zone. Significantly higher losses were found in small apiaries (24.63%) com-pared to medium and large (15.29% and 9.80% respectively). The number of beekeepers who treated their colonies for varroosis increased (97.38% compared to 90.6% after the winter of 2019-2020). 15.34% of the respondents treated colonies without prior monitoring and 1.62% of respond-ents, on the contrary, only monitored but did not treat their colonies. 0.87% of beekeepers did not monitor or treat the colonies. The majority of respondents chose drugs based on amitraz (fumigation – 39.95%, plates – 22.54%) and flumethrin (17.29%). Ukrainian beekeepers reduce using of folk remedies for varroosis (2.18% before the winter of 2020-2021, 3.60% – before the winter of 2019-2020 and 6.65% – before the winter of 2018-2019).

Purpose. To estimate honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) colony winter loss rate for Ukraine after the winter 2019–2020 in the context of international COLOSS survey. Methods. Analysis of the results of the survey of Ukrainian beekeepers on A. mellifera colonies survival after the winter 2019-2020 by using the questionnaire developed by the coordinators of COLOSS international monitoring group. Unified approaches to data collection and statistical processing have been used. Valid protocols from 702 respondents from five physical-geographical zones of Ukraine have been analysed. Results. Honey bee colony winter loss rates for Ukraine after the winter 2019-2020 was 9.29%, the mortality rate was 5.41 %; the losses due to unsolvable queen problems – 2.19 %, and due to natural disasters – 1.69 %. The total losses in the steppe zone of Ukraine were 16.08%, significantly exceeding this indicator in the forest-steppe zone (8.94%), the zone of deciduous forests (6.73%) and the Ukrainian Carpathians (8.14%). The most common sign of dead colonies in Ukraine was the presence of a large number of dead bees in or in front of the hive (31.3 %) and unknown symptoms (37,3 %). The majority of Ukrainian beekeepers (50.7%) did not notice any difference in wintering of the colonies going into winter with a new queen in comparison with the old one. Among antivarroa drugs, the majority of respondents preferred products based on amitraz (fumigation – 50.8%, in plates – 15.7%) and flumethrin (20.0%). We confirmed statistically lower level of winter losses in colonies treated with amitraz (fumigation), whereas colonies treated with formic acid (long-term) had higher losses. Conclusions. Honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) colony winter loss rate for Ukraine after the winter 2019–2020 was 9.29% and decreased slightly compared to the last year (11.18%) and the year before last (11.26%). It was almost twice lower than the average for the countries participating in COLOSS international monitoring (18,1%) (Gray, 2021). The highest losses were observed in the steppe zone of Ukraine, whereas the lowest in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The smaller beekeeping operations with at most 50 colonies suffered significantly higher losses 12.66%) compared to medium and large ones (9.48% and 6.52%, respectively). The number of beekeepers treating colonies against varroosis was 90.6%, and all of them mentioned that they had pre-monitored the level of Varroa infestation.