A Bee World article on the use of Citizen Scientist on varroa research. Citizen Science is the involvement of volunteers in science and CSI Varroa project is an initiative of COLOSS members, started at the end of 2018, aiming to gain more knowledge about varroa infestation thresholds above which beekeepers start observing economic damages, and if these thresholds are different in different parts of the world.
The objective of the CSI Varroa study is to gain a large amount of data from productive colonies, colonies under realistic beekeeping conditions in different geographic and climatic regions. The citizen science approach is probably the best method for a collaboration with many individuals, more than the usually involved in research projects. The agreed protocol and timeline actions encompassed in a Limesurvey questionnaire do facilitate the collection and the curation of the data. The project is an ambitious one and is running with the support from COLOSS and the Danish Beekeepers’ Association.
The full artile can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0005772X.2021.1935611
