Prioritizing changes in management practices associated with reduced winter honey bee colony losses for US beekeepers

Steinhauer, Nathalie; vanEngelsdorp, Dennis; Saegerman, Claude

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141629

Cited by 61 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Oxytetracycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic currently used in the beekeeping sector (24, 36). Recently, Raymann et al (31, 37) showed that the use of tetracycline strongly decreased the absolute abundance of 5 gut core genera in partially caged honeybees, with a significant decrease of Bartonella , Bifidobacterium , Bombilactobacillus spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honeybees exposure to veterinary drugs: how the gut microbiota is affected

Baffoni

Alberoni

Gaggìa

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several studies have outlined that a balanced gut microbiota offers metabolic and protective functions supporting honeybee health and performances. The present work contributes to increasing knowledge on the impact on the honeybee gut microbiota of the administration of three different veterinary drugs (oxytetracicline, sulphonamides and tylosin). The trial was designed with a semi-field approach in micro-hives containing about 500 bees, i.e. in experimental conditions as close as possible to real hives considering the restrictions on the use of antibiotics; 6 replicates were considered for each treatment plus the control. The absolute abundance of the major gut microbial taxa in newly eclosed individuals was studied with qPCR and next generation sequencing. Antimicrobial resistance genes for the target antibiotics were also monitored using a qPCR approach. The results showed that none of the veterinary drugs altered the total amount of gut bacteria, but qualitative variations were observed. Tylosin treatment determined a significant decrease of α- and β-diversity indexes and a strong depletion of the rectum population (lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) while favoring the hindgut population (Gilliamella, Snodgrassella and Frischella spp.). Major changes were also observed in honeybees treated with sulphonamides, with a decrease in Bartonella and Frischella core taxa an increase of Bombilactobacillus spp. and Snodgrassella spp. Conversely, minor effects were observed in oxytetracycline treated honeybees. Monitoring of antibiotic resistance genes confirmed that honeybees represent a great reservoir of tetracycline resistance genes. Tetracycline and sulphonamides resistant genes tended to increase in the gut microbiota population upon antibiotic administration.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honeybees exposure to veterinary drugs: how the gut microbiota is affected

Baffoni

Alberoni

Gaggìa

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the case of beekeeper citizen scientists, direct benefits for honey bee health include individual participants' development of new skill sets (Shirk et al 2012;Morawetz et al 2020) or insights from environmental learning (Ballard and Belsky 2010;Toomey and Domroese 2013). Finally, the knowledge of beekeepers was previously used in crowdsourcing studies to identify best practice methods to reduce honey bee colony losses (Jacques et al 2017;Steinhauer et al 2020;Kulhanek et al 2021). El Agrebi et al (2021) demonstrated the importance of beekeepers' perception of risks as a mitigation strategy for colony losses among Belgian amateur beekeepers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How and why beekeepers participate in the INSIGNIA citizen science honey bee environmental monitoring project

Gratzer

Brodschneider

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the “contributory” citizen science project INSIGNIA, beekeepers carried out non-invasive sampling of their own honey bee colonies for an environmental investigation of pesticide residues and pollen plant origin. We surveyed several traits and attitudes of 69 of the volunteering beekeepers from ten countries. We found that their motivation was similar to that found in previous studies of environmental volunteer motivation, with helping the environment and contributing to scientific knowledge being strong motivators. Our results suggest that receiving laboratory analysis results of the samples from their colonies is the most meaningful way of appreciation for beekeepers, but is not their primary reason for participation. A citizen scientist beekeeper in this study spent on average 10.4 working hours on the project during a sampling season. Our study indicates that most of our volunteers would participate in similar future investigations, or would recommend participation to other beekeepers, underlining the potential of beekeepers as citizen scientists in honey bee research.

show abstract

“…One of the largest changes facing beekeepers today is controlling Varroa mites, a problem exacerbated by the limited number of control products available and the evolution of resistance in mite populations 8–32, 45, 78 . Although alternative non-synthetic based treatments are available, their efficacy is variable as outcomes are dependent on external factors, such as climatic and in-hive conditions and product application 13, 32, 79, 80 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since untreated colonies experience a rapid reduction in health, regular treatment against Varroa mite have become an essential part of bee management for US beekeepers. The use of synthetic varroacides like the formamidine amitraz, the organophosphate coumaphos, and the pyrethroids flumethrin and tau -fluvalinate have long been in beekeepers “toolbox” 8, 32 . Although there are other non-synthetic acaricides and management techniques available, synthetic miticides are often the preferred choice because, when effective, they remove mites rapidly, do not cause obvious damage to bee populations, and are relatively cheap and easy to use 5, 32–34 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance in Varroa mites, a parasite of honey bees, are widespread across the USA

Millán-Leiva

Marín

Christmon

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUNDManaged honey bees are key pollinators of many crops and play an essential role in the United States food production. For more than 10 years, beekeepers in the US have been reporting high rate of colony losses. One of the drivers of this colony loss is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Preserving healthy honey bee colonies in the US is dependent on a successful control of this mite. The pyrethroid tau-fluvalinate (Apistan®) was among the first synthetic varroacide registered in the US. With over 20 years of use, population of mites resistant to Apistan® have emerged, and so it is unsurprising that treatment failures have been reported. Resistance in US mite populations to tau-fluvalinate is associated with point mutations at position 925 of the voltage-gated sodium channel, L925I and L925M.RESULTSHere, we have generated a distribution map of pyrethroid resistance alleles in Varroa samples collected from US apiaries in 2016 and 2017, using a high throughput allelic discrimination assay based on TaqMan®. Our results evidence that these kdr-type mutations are widely distributed in Varroa populations across the country showing high variability among apiaries.CONCLUSIONWe highlight the relevance of monitoring the resistance in mite populations to achieve an efficient control of this pest, and the benefit of implementing this methodology in pest management programs for varroosis.

show abstract

Prioritizing changes in management practices associated with reduced winter honey bee colony losses for US beekeepers

Cited by 61 publications

References 69 publications

Honeybees exposure to veterinary drugs: how the gut microbiota is affected

Honeybees exposure to veterinary drugs: how the gut microbiota is affected

How and why beekeepers participate in the INSIGNIA citizen science honey bee environmental monitoring project

Mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance in Varroa mites, a parasite of honey bees, are widespread across the USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About