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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417820
Research Project: Sustainable Crop Production and Wildland Preservation through the Management, Systematics, and Conservation of a Diversity of Bees

Location: Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research

Title: Standardized protocol for collecting bee samples for parasite and pathogen data

Author
item STRANGE, JAMES - The Ohio State University
item LOPEZ-URIBE, MARGARITA - Pennsylvania State University
item WHITMAN, LIAM - The Ohio State University
item DANFORTH, BYRAN - Cornell University
item JHA, SHALANE - University Of Texas At Austin
item LEVENSON, HANNAH - North Carolina State University
item DU CLOS, BRIANNE - Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
item Koch, Jonathan
item WOODARD, S.HOLLIS - University Of California

Submitted to: Journal of Melittology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/3/2025
Publication Date: 5/3/2025
Citation: Strange, J.P., Lopez-Uribe, M.M., Whitman, L., Danforth, B.N., Jha, S., Levenson, H.K., Du Clos, B., Koch, J., Woodard, S. 2025. Standardized protocol for collecting bee samples for parasite and pathogen data. Journal of Melittology. https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.vi123.22598.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.vi123.22598

Interpretive Summary: Parasites and diseases have not been the main focus of bee studies so far, but they are crucial for understanding why bee populations are declining. This document offers a clear method for collecting fresh bee samples to study these parasites and diseases. The method ensures proper handling and storage of the samples and sets standards for the data collected. It can be included in larger bee health projects or used by anyone interested in collecting data on bee parasites and diseases. This protocol is part of a series developed by the U.S. National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network.

Technical Abstract: Parasites and pathogens have not been a main focus of bee monitoring efforts to-date, but are an important component of comprehensive monitoring programs because they have been strongly linked to bee declines. Here, we provide a standardized protocol for collecting fresh bee tissue samples for generating parasite and pathogen data. The protocol emphasizes appropriate handling and storage conditions and data standards. It can be embedded within bee health monitoring projects or can be used by individual data collection efforts that aim to generate parasite and pathogen data, or may wish to use tissue to do so in the future. This is one of a series of standardized protocols developed by the U.S. National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network.