Members of COLOSS have recently been reporting that the Tropilaelaps mite, which has previously been confined to eastern parts of Asia, has been spreading on Apis mellifera towards the west, and has been detected in Uzbekistan, south -western parts of Russia and possibly Iran. In view of this threat, we feel that there is an…
Abstract Brassica rapa L., is a crop grown globally and studies have indicated that insect pollination can improve yields. However, the importance of insect pollination in this crop depends on cultivar reproductive biology, insect pollinator species and their abundances. In Bangladesh, the acreage of B. rapa for oilseed production has been expanding, but little is…
Apis mellifera workers display two stages; short lived summer bees that engage in nursing, hive maintenance and foraging, and long lived winter bees (diutinus bees) which remain within the hive and are essential for thermoregulation and rearing the next generation of bees in spring before dying. Label free quantitative proteomic analysis was conducted on A.…
The honey bee is one of the most important pollinators with a close relationship to humans. The questionnaire from the non-governmental association “COLOSS”, answered by beekeepers around the world, is a valuable tool for monitoring and analyzing factors involved in overwintering losses, as well as for understanding the evolution of the beekeeping sector over the…
Approaches to assess the impact of emerging technology from a planetary perspective, while exploring options for exposure reduction and interacting with citizens and stakeholders about exposure levels and possible associated risks. Following a citizen science paradigm, ETAIN will develop an app and a platform able to quantify one’s personal exposure to RF-EMF (Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields).…
Honey bees are essential for crop and wild plant pollination. However, many countries have reported high annual colony losses caused by multiple possible stressors. Diseases, particularly those caused by viruses, are a major cause of colony losses. However, little is known about the prevalence of honey bee pathogens, particularly virus prevalence, in Egyptian honey bees.…
In the second week of February 2023 the two COLOSS core groups Monitoring and B-RAP met again in person after two years with annual online workshops. Do you recognise the country and city from the group photos? Yes, we were in Warsaw, experiencing the Polish cold, were treated with excellent Polish food and even had…
Microplastics (MPs), in the form of fragments and fibers, were recently found in honey samples collected in Ecuador as well as in honey bees collected from Denmark and China. However, little is known about how MPs impact bee health. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the potential toxicity of irregularly shaped polystyrene (PS)-MP fragments…
Results of the Bee Informed Partnership’s annual loss and management survey have been published in the Journal of Apicultural Research for the years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2020-21. The open access article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2158586
Honeybees and their products are good bioindicators because they are inextricably linked to the natural environment they inhabit. The objectives of this research were to detect and identify pollution extent by the levels of metals in honeybees (foragers) (Apis mellifera jemenatica) and beeswax, including some elements such as K, Ca, Na, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu,…