Location: Bee Research Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-30500-002-036-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Sep 30, 2026
Objective:
Honey bees are essential to food production and environmental health. As key pollinators, they support more than 75% of flowering plants, including vital food crops for people and livestock, contributing over $20 billion each year to U.S. agriculture. However, honey bee populations continue to decline, posing a serious threat to farming operations that rely on pollination. The causes of this year’s severe and widespread losses remain unclear. This research will combine field and laboratory studies to uncover the drivers of colony decline and develop practical guidelines to improve beekeeping, strengthen bee health, and ensure long-term sustainability.
Approach:
The primary goal of this research is to identify and understand the microbial factors contributing to honeybee colony collapse, while also integrating pesticide exposure and pollen diversity analyses, which will be conducted in parallel by collaborators, to explore the correlation between microbial and abiotic factors. To achieve this, we propose an integrated, interdisciplinary approach by focusing on the following three interrelated objectives. The results will drive recommendations for disease management and provide insights into regional nutritional or disease stress that must be mitigated in order to reduce unsustainably high colony losses. We will accomplish this broad objective by fulfilling the following specific research objectives:
OBJECTIVE I. MONITOR PATHOGENS AND OTHER MICROBES IN HEALTHY AND COLLAPSING BEE COLONIES
OBJECTIVE II: MEASURE POLLEN SOURCES AND THEIR EFFECTIVE ON BENEFICIAL GUT BACTERIA AND BEE HEALTH
OBJECTIVE III: MANAGE BEE RESPONSES TO DISEASE AND OVERWINTERING STRESS.
OBJECTIVE IV. DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL MEDICINES FOR DISEASE TREATMENT
OBJECTIVE V: ORGANIZE AND CONDUCT WORKSHOPS TO ADVANCE RESEARCH OUTREACH AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.