Hive proud bees help stop the spread of disease

The cash from the British Beekeepers’ Association will help to develop methods for investigating hygienic behaviour in honeybees which could provide opportunities to improve the species’ disease resistance.
‘Hygienic’ bees are able to detect and remove diseased larvae from the colony and reduce the spread of disease within the hive.
The money will be used to support PhD student, Gianluigi Bigio, working at the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at Sussex University. The aim of the project which starts in March is to breed and test a stock of native British black honey bees and to make the information available to the 16,000 amateur members of the BBKA to use in queen rearing and in hives.
• Scientists across the world are investigating the possible causes of honey bee death which has resulted in a downward trend in hive numbers in Britain. Numbers have dropped from a million a century ago to 250,000 today with similar declines in the USA. Honey bees pollinate many food crops and their demise could have devastating consequences for all flowering plants.

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