Using Citizen Science to Scout Honey Bee Colonies That Naturally Survive Varroa destructor Infestations

Moro, Arrigo; Beaurepaire, Alexis; Dall'Olio, Raffaele; Rogenstein, Steven; Blacquièr, Tjeerd; Dahle, Bjørn; Joachim R., de Miranda; Dietemann, Vincent; Locke, Barbara; Licón Luna, Rosa María; Le Conte, Yves; Neumann, Peter (2021). Using Citizen Science to Scout Honey Bee Colonies That Naturally Survive Varroa destructor Infestations. Insects, 12(6), p. 536. MDPI 10.3390/insects12060536

[img]
Preview
Text
Moro_et_al._-_2021_-_Using_Citizen_Science_to_Scout_Honey_Bee_Colonies_.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY).

Download (1MB) | Preview

Citizen Science contributes significantly to the conservation of biodiversity, but its application to honey bee research has remained minimal. Even though certain European honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations are known to naturally survive Varroa destructor infestations, it is unclear how widespread or common such populations are. Such colonies are highly valuable for investigating the mechanisms enabling colony survival, as well as for tracking the conservation status of free-living honey bees. Here, we use targeted Citizen Science to identify potentially new cases of managed or free-living A. mellifera populations that survive V. destructor without mite control strategies. In 2018, a survey containing 20 questions was developed, translated into 13 languages, and promoted at beekeeping conferences and online. After three years, 305 reports were collected from 28 countries: 241 from managed colonies and 64 from free-living colonies. The collected data suggest that there could be twice as many naturally surviving colonies worldwide than are currently known. Further, online and personal promotion seem to be key for successful recruitment of participants. Although the survivor status of these colonies still needs to be confirmed, the volume of reports and responses already illustrate how effectively Citizen Science can contribute to bee research by massively increasing generated data, broadening opportunities for comparative research, and fostering collaboration between scientists, beekeepers, and citizens. The success of this survey spurred the development of a more advanced Citizen Science platform, Honey Bee Watch, that will enable a more accurate report- ing, confirmation, and monitoring of surviving colonies, and strengthen the ties between science, stakeholders, and citizens to foster the protection of both free-living and managed honey bees.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Institute of Bee Health

Graduate School:

Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB)

UniBE Contributor:

Moro, Arrigo, Beaurepaire, Alexis, Neumann, Peter (B)

Subjects:

500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)
600 Technology > 630 Agriculture
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

2075-4450

Publisher:

MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

Arrigo Moro

Date Deposited:

01 Jul 2021 08:59

Last Modified:

05 Aug 2023 02:34

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/insects12060536

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/157255

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157255

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback