1m Award To Address Honeybee Decline
Scientists at Rothamsted Research and Warwick University have been awarded 1M
by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in
partnership with Syngenta, to research the decline of honeybees.
UK government figures suggest bee numbers have fallen by 10-15% over the last 2
years; the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) quotes a figure nearer 30% for
2008. Since the declines were first reported a number of factors have been
suggested. Most scientists now believe that a complex of interacting factors is
the most likely cause.
Lead researcher, Dr Juliet Osborne said: Bees living on agricultural landscapes
have a lot to deal with! They must respond to sudden changes in availability of
food pollen and nectar whist dealing with a variety of diseases, parasites
and other stresses. This project will provide us with a unique insight into how
disease and food supply affect the survival of bees in farmed landscapes.
The team will use a combination of field work and computer modelling to look at
how the bees behaviour outside the hive, while looking for food, interacts with
what is affecting bees in the hive factors that have historically been studied
separately. The ultimate aim of the project is to build a model that will allow
us to understand how bees may respond to diseases in a changing farmed
landscape.
Dr Peter Campbell, Syngenta said: Honeybees are important pollinators for many
crops, garden and wild flowers. They are essential both for food security and
sustainable agriculture and horticulture. This work will substantially improve
our understanding of the many factors affecting honeybee health. A main outcome
of the project will be a predictive tool that can help beekeepers, farmers and
other landscape managers to improve honeybee health.
Professor Janet Allen, Director of Research, BBSRC said: We are all concerned
about the decline in honeybee numbers and the effect this could have on our food
supplies. It is highly likely that there is no one cause of the drop in numbers
which makes this project absolutely critical.
As funders, the research councils and Syngenta are stepping up to the plate in
the fight against declining honeybee populations. In addition to this project,
Syngenta have also launched Operation Pollinator, a 5-year 1M programme in
seven European countries (and the USA) to boost pollinating insects by providing
wildflower strips. And Dr Osbornes project is one of four honey bee-related
projects funded by the research councils in recent months, with a total
investment of 2.1 million. For example, BBSRC is also funding a project led by
Professor Ian Jones at Reading University, who is researching Israel Acute
Paralysis Virus (IAPV), which is associated with colony collapse disorder and
exacerbated by varroa mite infection. And the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC) is funding two projects: Dr William Hughes of the University of
Leeds is investigating the effects of genetic diversity on transmission and
evolution of infection of honeybees by the fungal parasite, chalkbrood and
Professor Mike Boots of the University of Sheffield is looking at the evolution
of virulence in viral diseases that infect honeybees via varroa mite.
BBSRC also manages the Insect Pollinators Initiative a 10M joint funding
source under the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. This is a
joint initiative from BBSRC, Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council
(NERC), the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government. Projects funded under
the initiative are due to be announced in July 2010.