Analysis of background variability of honey bee colony size

Abstract

In the context of the definition of specific protection goals for bees, risk managers asked EFSA to provide scientific background to support them in their decision‐making process about what needs to be protected and to what extent. The risk managers indicated that the derivation of a threshold of acceptable effects on colony size based on their variability was the preferred option for honey bees. This approach assumes that when evaluating a pesticide, the magnitude of acceptable effects should be set within the range of the background variability of colonies not exposed to pesticides. In this report EFSA used the BEEHAVE model to assess background variability of colony size in 19 EU environmental scenarios covering a range of geographical, climatic and beekeeping conditions. A comparison was made between the model outcome and the measurements performed on control groups of experimental field studies. The analysis of the background variability presented in this document should support risk managers in defining a threshold for colony size reduction that is considered acceptable.

The impact of mass-flowering crops on bee pathogen dynamics

“…These hives (often multiple) are regularly placed near or in MFC fields just before bloom and often remain there a while after bloom to ensure crop pollination. This results in a surge of the amount of honey bee hosts present at that location ( Eeraerts et al, 2017 ) [average size of a managed European honey bee hive ∼20 000 bees/colony during late spring-summer ( Ippolito et al, 2021 ), of which around 4.1% on average are foragers ( Danka et al, 1986 )]. Furthermore, honey bees are host to a variety of pathogens ( Ellis and Munn, 2005 ).…”

Simulation of Varroa mite control in honey bee colonies without synthetic acaricides: Demonstration of Good Beekeeping Practice for Germany in the BEEHAVE model

“…It includes a detailed foraging module, the option to load a realistic landscape and a varroa and virus model that enables various beekeeping practices. BEEHAVE was positively evaluated by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA PPR Panel, 2015) and has been used to answer a variety of questions: Consequences of pesticide impacts at the colony level, both in hypothetical (Reiner et al, 2022;Rumkee et al, 2015;Thorbek et al, 2017a,b) and real-world scenarios (Schmolke et al, 2019(Schmolke et al, , 2020; and numerous others (Abi-Akar et al, 2020;Agatz et al, 2019;Bulson et al, 2021;EFSA, 2021;Henry et al, 2017;Horn et al, 2016Horn et al, , 2021Requier et al, 2019). Although the original BEEHAVE version (Becher et al, 2014) includes varroa treatment and a later version (BEEHAVE for BeeMapp, 2016) includes repeated treatments, drone brood removal, and mite reinvasion (referred to as reinfestation in BEEHAVE), not all varroa treatment options can be simulated.…”

The BEEHAVEecotox Model—Integrating a Mechanistic Effect Module into the Honeybee Colony Model

“…An extensive review of existing colony models was conducted by Becher et al ( 2013 ). Since then, several models have been published (EFSA et al, 2021 ), such as the Baveco model, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) model, the Croft model, or the BEEHAVE model (Baveco et al, 2016 ; Becher et al, 2014 ; Croft et al, 2018 ; Kuan et al, 2018 ). These models have different levels of realism and varying degrees of simplification of the complex dynamics within a colony and the interactions with its environment.…”

“…In 2015, the EFSA evaluated the BEEHAVE model for its use in honeybee risk assessment (EFSA, 2015 ). Although there were some concerns regarding the use of the current version for the risk assessment of pesticides, the EFSA has used the model to quantify the specific protection goals for honeybee risk assessment (EFSA et al, 2021 ). The main criticisms of the BEEHAVE model were insufficient validation and lack of an ecotoxicological module.…”

“…The BEEHAVE model is an ideal candidate for the development of such an ecotoxicological module. This model is currently the only freely available honeybee model that already interlinks colony dynamics with the surrounding landscape (EFSA et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, it was developed in a modular fashion; the three linked modules are the colony model, the foraging model, and a varroa model (Becher et al, 2014 ).…”