The Bayer CropScience view on Maxim and van der Sluijs ‘Seed dressing systemic insecticides and honeybees: a challenge for democratic governance of controversies on chemical risks’

We investigated an effect of Apis mellifera worker brood on the reproduction of Varroa destructor as a resistance trait by conducting seven generations of bidirectional selection. Initial tests showed twofold differences in mite fecundity (progeny per foundress mites) between colonies of different origins.

Sex-related differences in susceptibility to pathogens are a common phenomenon in animals. In the eusocial Hymenoptera the two female castes, workers and queens, are diploid and males are haploid

Multiple mating (and insemination) by females with different males, polyandry, is widespread across animals, due to material and/or genetic benefits for females.

Depending on the latitudes, the winter can be more or less mild, and the colonies can go through a variety of situations.

We studied the impact of solar heating of bee colonies by placing beehives inside Infrared- Polyethylene (PE) covered enclosures, on: hive temperature, bee population, and spring honey production, during the subtropical winter.

Social immunity forms an essential part of the defence repertoire of social insects. In response to infestation by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and its associated viruses, honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have developed a specific behaviour (varroa-sensitive hygiene, or VSH) that helps protect the colony from this parasite

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of chronical exposure of honeybee drones to environmental (5 ppb) and non-environmental concentration (200 ppb) of imidacloprid (IMD) on sperm concentration, motility, viability, and mitochondrial membrane potential measured in semen obtained from 180 drones originating from 18 colonies.