Location: Invasive Species and Pollinator Health
Project Number: 2030-30500-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Apr 15, 2025
End Date: Apr 14, 2030
Objective:
Honey bee pollination services contribute more than $15 billion annually to US agriculture, yet beekeepers face mounting challenges from parasites, pathogens, poor nutrition, and exposure to pesticides. With annual colony losses exceeding over 30 percent annually, there is a need for advanced strategies that integrate real-time monitoring, predictive modeling, and evidence-based interventions. This project aims to develop and refine data-driven recommendations to help optimize colony health and pollination potential under diverse environmental and management conditions. A dual approach will be taken to achieve these goals. Longitudinal studies will monitor colonies over extended periods in varying landscapes while targeted experiments will evaluate the impacts of stressors and interventions on individual bee health and behavior. Given the queen’s central role in colony productivity, this project will also investigate how different management practices and environmental stressors influence her reproductive success, interactions with workers, and overall colony stability. The insights gained will inform precision beekeeping strategies, leading to improved management recommendations and the development of novel mitigation tools. The following are the objectives and subobjectives of this project plan:
Objective 1: Conduct longitudinal monitoring of apiaries in diverse scenarios to better predict the short and long-term effects of biotic and abiotic factors on honey bee colonies.
Sub-objective 1.A: Maintain the Long-Term Honey Bee Research (LTHBR) system in California and develop automated monitoring techniques to facilitate its expansion.
Objective 2: Examine the influence of mediation strategies that contribute to long-term colony stability on worker bee health and behavior.
Sub-objective 2.A: Determine the long-term effects of using automated data collection to select effective treatment periods for the control of Varroa destructor in commercial operations.
Sub-objective 2.B: Assess the relationship between learning and memory performance, virulence, and pathogens associated with varying levels of Varroa mite loads from two different Varroa mite management strategies in commercial apiaries.
Objective 3: Investigate the effects of stressors on queens and on reproductive behaviors such as nursing.
Sub-objective 3.A: Assess the effects of a juvenile hormone analogue pesticide on honey bee nursing competency, physiology, and colony health.
Objective 4: Assess how mediation strategies affect queen health, acceptance, and longevity.
Sub-objective 4.A: Assess response to agrochemical stress across genetically distinct honey bee populations.
Sub-objective 4.B: Assess the efficacy of pollen diet at ameliorating agrochemical stress on honey bee queens and workers at critical periods of the season.
Approach:
As part of Sub-objective 1, automated monitoring strategies that enable the continuous monitoring of colonies will be paired with industry-standard manually collected beekeeping metrics including colony brood, pollen, nectar, and honey storage, frames of bees, and parasite and pathogen abundance. Correlating sensor measurements with manual field assessments will establish a reliable remote monitoring framework, ultimately enabling predictive analytics and prescriptive management strategies. In Sub-objective 2a, automated data collection will be leveraged to optimize treatment timing for Varroa destructor control in commercial operations. This approach is expected to benefit beekeepers by decreasing the labor-intensive burden of mite infestation surveys and will aid them in selecting optimal treatment regimes across a variety of management and environmental conditions. For both Sub-objective 1a and 2a, fine tuning of monitoring protocols may occur over time to improve data accuracy or incorporate emerging factors such as abnormally high colony losses in a particular year. Sub-objective 2b will explore the benefits of decreased parasite loads through these well-time interventions on colony foraging and pollination potential by evaluating the effects of Varroa-vectored pathogens on honey bee learning and memory using a proboscis extension reflex assay. If no differences are found in Varroa mites or viruses across different honey bee colonies in the field, then a more controlled experiment can be carried out in which the bees are injected or inoculated with a particular virus and their learning and memory will be assayed. Sub-objective 3a will evaluate agrochemical impacts on honey bee reproduction, integrating laboratory and field studies to assess queen health, brood care, and colony development in response to a hormone mimicking compound. Sub-objectives 4a and b will assess whether agrochemical stress can be ameliorated through pollen nutrition or the beekeeper’s choice of genetic stock. Even in cases where no significant differences emerge, these findings will inform beekeepers about potential risks and the efficacy of intervention strategies. By incorporating advanced colony monitoring tools into colony health management and identifying beneficial beekeeping practices under different scenarios, beekeepers can optimize crop pollination services while maintaining long term economic sustainability. This project plan will provide essential tools for adaptive beekeeping in the face of evolving management and environmental challenges.
