June 2021 - 12

Scientists follow the bees to learn about colony survival
By Seth Truscott
University of Washington
Millions of honeybees trek across
America each year, pollinating
almonds, apples, melons and many
more crops.
Trucked in great stacks of hives,
bee colonies are dispersed across
hundreds of miles. It's very difficult
for beekeepers to track the impact
from pests, diseases, pesticides
and environmental factors at every
location.
This spring, scientists at Washington
State University (WSU) are following
the journey and inspecting hives to
get a clearer picture of colony health
across the annual cycle of pollination.
Funded by a $1.1 million grant from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Foreign Agricultural Service, the team
is partnering with beekeepers to build
a predictive model and decision aid
system that helps manage and protect
pollinators.
" We need better tools to reduce
colony losses, " said Rae Olsson,
co-lead investigator and postdoctoral
researcher with WSU's Department
of Entomology. " Our project helps
beekeepers plan and place their
colonies for improved health and
sustainability. "
4 threats to colonies
Pollination is vital to most fruit
and seed crops, but the pollinators
themselves face a tenuous existence:
one recent study found 43% of
managed bee colonies died from 2019
to 2020.
" Honeybee colony loss is commonly
attributed to what we call the 'Four
Washington State University scientists are inspecting honeybee hives to develop a better
way to measure colony health and make beekeeping decisions. Photos: Washington
State University
AF_021_HVSF_3rdPageVerticalAd_FruitGrowerNews.qxp_AF_021_HVSF_3rdPageVerticalAd_FruitGro
Ps': pesticide exposure, poor nutrition,
parasites, and pathogens, " Olsson said.
On the move themselves, beekeepers
often have a hard time tracking the
location, health and treatment of
each colony. This can lead to overuse
of chemicals and the buildup of
pesticides.
" Once a beekeeper puts colonies
Be Confident
from Orchard
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in an orchard for pollination, bees
are really at the mercy of the farm's
practices, and those of neighboring
farmers, " Olsson said. " If a nearby
farmer sprays a pesticide that is
harmful to bees, and wind blows
residues toward the crop where bees
are located, the bees could be harmed
or killed. "
Chemicals aren't the only threat. If
the weather is exceptionally rainy or
cold, flowers won't bloom, meaning
less food for bees.
" Beekeepers are often dealing with
one or more of these factors, and some
of the additive effects are unknown, "
Olsson said.
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between location, environment,
threats, and survival, WSU scientists
want to create a standardized metric
of colony health. Partnering with
Washington state beekeepers and a
private technology company called
Nectar, the team will follow colonies
throughout their pollination journey
over three years, testing and groundtruthing
pesticide exposures and the
availability of food sources across the
landscape.
The study began while bees were
visiting California's almond crop
earlier this year, and has continued as
they move to various western crops,
ultimately ending up in Montana and
South Dakota in early autumn for
flower crops such as clover. Bees will
also be checked as they overwinter in
their hives.
Scientists are checking hives
and collecting monthly data on
environmental and colony health,
including the health of the queen,
number of bees, food levels, and
disease symptoms. They are also
Rae Olsson, a post-doctoral researcher at
WSU's Department of Entomology,
co-leads research into honeybee health
and survival
sampling pollen stores for pesticide
residues.
New tools for beekeepers
Data will be used to create an overall
score called Colony Health in Place and
Season, or CHIPS, which will be used
to develop a system that can predict
and model colony health and survival.
The system could tell a beekeeper if a
given site and season will offer enough
resources to sustain their bees.
" With colonies being constantly
moved to new locations, there are many
difficult-to-follow factors going back
through the lifetime of the hive that
may contribute to colony death, " Olsson
said. " Our technology could make
things easier by allowing researchers to
monitor thousands of hives remotely,
and let beekeepers track their colonies
in a streamlined way. We'll have a better
understanding of how to keep hives
healthy throughout the season. "
Additional partners in the research
team include scientists at the WSU
Northwestern Washington Research
and Extension Center at Mount Vernon,
Portland-based Synergistic Pesticide
Laboratory and WSU's Decision Aid
System. FGN

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June 2021

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