I

ANNO 3 Numero 1
Richard E.L. Rogers [1], Piotr Medrzycki [2], Claudio Porrini [3], Laura Bortolotti [2], Anna Gloria Sabatini [2], Teodoro Stadler [4]

The status of honey bee health: assessing the factors

[1] Wildwood Labs Inc, Kentville , Canada
[2] DISTA - Area Entomologia, Università di Bologna, Italy
[3] CRA - Istituto Nazionale di Apicoltura , Bologna, Italy
[4] Centro Regional de Investigaciones Cinetificas y Tecnologicas, Mendoza, Argentina

Corresponding author: rrogers@wildwoodlabs.com - cporrini@entom.agrsci.unibo.it

The International Apis Health Assessment Committee (IAHAC), a working group of the ICP-BR Bee Protection Group, has developed a consensus statement about the status of honey bee health by working through a step-wise process. The process included 1) reviewing case studies related to honey bee losses, 2) creation of a list of factors that can influence bee health, 3) identification of preferred and innovative techniques for assessing bee health factors and interactions, and 4) reviewing the practical application of bee health assessment techniques that have used thresholds and interactions for evaluating results. Based on the findings of the above process, IAHAC concludes that there is no single factor responsible for all cases of the honey bee losses many countries are experiencing. Several key factors have been identified as the primary causes, in some cases acting individually, and in other cases there are multiple factors responsible for the death of colonies. More work is needed to develop definitive diagnostic techniques, thresholds, and predictive models.