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BEE-GUARDS at the 5th International Symposium for Agriculture & Food – Ohrid

We were proud to take part in the 5th International Symposium for Agriculture and Food in the beautiful city of Ohrid, where science, innovation, and collaboration came together.

A special Apicultural session, organized by UKIM, highlighted the importance of honey bees and beekeeping for the future of sustainable agriculture.

Our leader, Dr. Cecilia Costa, delivered an inspiring keynote speech on “The most essential of all agricultural activities: apiculture”, reminding everyone that bees are not only pollinators but also guardians of biodiversity and food security.

Goran Aleksovski from UKIM presented the progress of WP2 – Innovative Breeding Strategies.

The session brought together scientist, extensionists and beekeepers from 12 countries, who closed the event with inspection of colonies from the local honey bee subspecies: Apis mellifera macedonica.

This event was a great opportunity for UKIM to form a team of beekeepers that will be involved in BEE-GUARDS WP1 and WP2 research activities!!!

Tropilaelaps mites are statutorily notifiable in the EU and infestation with Tropilaelaps spp. is subject to surveillance within the EU (see https://sitesv2.anses.fr/en/minisite/abeilles/leaflet-tropilaelaps-spp-beekeepers). BeeGuards continue to raise awareness among the beekeeping and scientific communities, as well as national and international authorities including the EU Commission. As our post suggests, our experts are currently studying Tropilaelaps and intensifying research in Georgia and China. In addition, we alerted beekeepers about this damaging mite with an informative leaflet translated into eight languages (https://beeguards.eu/downloads/), and in cooperation with Apimondia, we organised a specific Webinar to share knowledge on mite biology and improve preparedness (see https://youtu.be/K-yRRHLROdc?si=rF7kXUZNlyzlnyZl).

BeeGuards published work on mite detection techniques has led to changes in national and EU surveillance protocols for Tropilaelaps mites, as well as the beekeeping practice:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301880

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390426066_Rapid_Brood_Decapping_forTropilaelaps_mercedesae_Detection

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389993719_A_scientific_note_on_’Rapid_brood_decapping’-a_method_for_assessment_of_honey_bee_Apis_mellifera_brood_infestation_with_Tropilaelaps_mercedesae

Earlier this year, the www.tropilaelaps.info website was launched as the most comprehensive online, free-of-charge repository of Tropilaelaps-related scientific and popular articles and media. 

In short, BeeGuards is committed to preparing the EU Beekeeping sector and helping the community to counter the negative consequences of a Tropilaelaps invasion across the continent. Stay tuned for more information that will follow!

International cryopreservation workshop in Spain at Universidad de Zaragoza organized by Professor Jesús Yániz and his team. This task is a part of our workpackage 2: Breeding for resilience. Have a picture look.

Our climate is changing and we are seeing more intensive periods of unsettled weather. Our bees cannot forage in high winds or when it is raining, so how do they cope when they cannot forage? Scientists at Newcastle University have built a machine to simulate rainfall on colonies, whilst their neighboring colonies are left to fly freely in the Newcastle sunshine! BeeGuards will assess the physiological and immune responses of the bees, and assess how they respond to pathogen challenge. The results will help us understand how bees are coping with climate change, and allow us to design interventions that improve the resilience of our honey bees.