16 : SmartBees SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF RESILIENT BEE POPULATIONS SmartBees Katherine E Roberts and Jason Learner, National Bee Unit, York
been the result of natural selection over millions of years, in which each population became adapted to the climate, vegetation, parasites and diseases of its environment. This led to a number of different Apis mellifera sub-species across the continent. Today, however, the situation is dramatically different. One of the many reasons for this is the incursion of the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which is tolerated in its natural host, the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana), but has led to catastrophic losses of honey bee populations across the world. In addition there has been a systematic replacement of many native European bee subspecies with races that have been bred for productivity, behaviour and disease resistance for many years.
T SmartBees
Both of these factors drastically reduce the genetic diversity
he genetic diversity of the European honey bee has
of honey bees in Europe and endanger sustainable, regionally acclimated beekeeping. Recently, the European Union has taken steps to fi nd new approaches to advance the understanding of the complex interactions between the honey bee and the varroa mite in the €6 million, EU-sponsored ‘Sustainable Management of Resilient Bee Populations’, or SmartBees project, over the next four years.
This unique project combines the expertise of geneticists, molecular biologists, virologists, parasitologists, immunologists, communication specialists, mathematicians, bee specialists and beekeepers from 11 countries across 16 organisations, including universities, research institutions and companies. The aim of this international project is twofold. • To analyse and improve the current state of genetic diversity among European bees.
• To understand further the interrelationship between bees, mites and their associated viruses (particularly deformed wing virus – DWV). The project is being coordinated by the Institute for Bee Research Hohen
Neuendorf, in Germany,
alongside the National Bee
www.bee-craft.com WP 5 – breeding to maintain honey bee genetic diversity
Unit (NBU), York, which heads the project in the UK along with its collaborators at the University of Aberdeen.
SmartBees comprises nine work packages (WP) which divide up the research activities. The NBU is involved in six of the work packages. WP 1 – ‘Gene discovery of resistance traits’, where we aim to identify bees with enhanced virus (DWV) resistance.
WP 5 – ‘The development of new husbandry methods for sustainable apicultural production and maintained honey bee genetic diversity’, engaging with beekeepers and bee breeders on their needs for dissemination strategies in order to develop a general method for apicultural development in honey bee management.
WP 6 – ‘Field testing and selecting local bee
populations’, where the performance and disease resistance of local honey bee populations and breeding lines will be analysed.
WP 7 – ‘Dissemination’, where training and fi ndings will be disseminated to stakeholders, including producing articles for beekeeping magazines and peer-reviewed journals.
WP 8 – ‘Elucidating and enhancing honey bee resistance mechanisms to parasitic diseases’.
WP 9 – ‘Determining present and future pathogen threats’, by investigating the virulence of Europe- wide DWV isolates.
Field Testing
WP 6 (Field Testing) will be of particular interest to beekeepers throughout Europe. In this WP, which is under the
May 2015 Vol 97 No 5
All photos: APHA, Crown copyright
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