I write a monthly column in American Bee Journal called “Notes from the Lab: The Latest Bee Science Distilled,” which reaches ~15,000 ABJ subscribers. Each month, I summarize a recent pollinator health paper from the primary literature for a non-scientific audience. The goal is to make the emerging pollinator health science more approachable and relevant to beekeepers and the public. American Bee Journal has allowed us to re-post the articles here. Click on the links below to see a PDF of each article:
April 2024: Summary of Han et al. 2024 [Nature Communications]: “Life-history stage determines the diet of ectoparasitic mites on their honey bee hosts.” American Bee Journal 164(4):413-415. pdf
March 2024: New bee-friendly restrictions on neonicotinoid insecticides in New York … and a barrier to further progress on this topic in the USA. American Bee Journal 164(3):305-310. pdf
February 2024: Summary of Nicholson et al. 2023 [Nature]: “Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes.” American Bee Journal 164(2):197-200. pdf
January 2024: Summary of Fisher et al. 2023 [BioScience]: “Breaking the cycle: Reforming pesticide regulation to protect pollinators.” American Bee Journal 164(1):57-60. pdf
December 2023: Summary of Fellows et al. 2023 [Virology Journal]: “Potassium ion channels as a molecular target to reduce virus infection and mortality of honey bee colonies.” American Bee Journal 163(12):1313-1315. pdf
November 2023: Summary of Chapman et al. 2023 [Biology Letters]: “The final frontier: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of a global parasite invasion.” American Bee Journal 163(11):1205-1207. pdf
October 2023: Summary of Mouillard-Lample et al. 2023 [Ecosystem Services]: “Competition between wild and honey bees: Floral resources as a common good providing multiple ecosystem services.” American Bee Journal 163(10):1135-1137. pdf
September 2023: Summary of Fleites-Ayil et al. 2023 [Biological Conservation]: “Trouble in the tropics: Pathogen spillover is a threat for native stingless bees.” American Bee Journal 163(9):1007-1009. pdf
August 2023: Summary of Eeraerts et al. 2023 [Landscape Ecology]: “Landscape-level honey bee hive density, instead of field-level hive density, enhances honey bee visitation in blueberry.” American Bee Journal 163(8):847-849. pdf
July 2023: Summary of Zhang et al. 2023 [Journal of Applied Ecology]: “Native vegetation embedded in landscapes dominated by corn and soybean improves honey bee health and productivity.” American Bee Journal 163(7):785-787. pdf
May 2023: Summary of Knapp et al. 2023 [Nature Ecology & Evolution]: “Ecological traits interact with landscape context to determine bees’ pesticide risk.” American Bee Journal 163(5):553-555. pdf
April 2023: Summary of Page & Williams 2023 [Ecology]: “Honey bee introductions displace native bees and decrease pollination of a native wildflower.” American Bee Journal 163(4):421-423. pdf
March 2023: Summary of Palmer-Young et al. 2022 [Journal of Economic Entomology]: “Sunflower-associated reductions in varroa mite infestation of honey bee colonies.” American Bee Journal 163(3):319-321. pdf
February 2023: Summary of Grüter & Hayes 2022 [Current Biology]: “Sociality is a key driver of foraging ranges in bees.” American Bee Journal 163(2):209-211. pdf
December 2022: Summary of Pusceddu et al. 2021 [Science Advances]: “Honey bees increase social distancing when facing the ectoparasite Varroa destructor.” American Bee Journal 162(12):1305-1307. pdf
November 2022: Summary of Steele et al. 2022 [Ecosphere]: “Apple orchards feed honey bees during, but even more so after, bloom.” American Bee Journal 162(11):1193-1195. pdf
October 2022: Summary of Turley et al. 2022 [Ecology and Evolution]: “Six years of wild bee monitoring shows changes in biodiversity within and across years and declines in abundance.” American Bee Journal 162(10):1131-1133. pdf
September 2022: Summary of Weaver et al. 2022 [Conservation and Diversity]: “Effects of short-term managed honey bee deployment in a native ecosystem on wild bee foraging and plant-pollinator networks.” American Bee Journal 162(9):1025-1027. pdf
August 2022: Summary of Quinlan et al. 2022 [Environmental Research Letters]: “Grassy-herbaceous land moderates regional climate effects on honey bee colonies in the Northcentral US.” American Bee Journal 162(8):915-917. pdf
July 2022: Summary of Graham et al. 2022 [Scientific Reports]: “Pesticide risk to managed bees during blueberry pollination is primarily driven by off-farm exposures.” American Bee Journal 162(7):795-797. pdf
June 2022: Summary of Palmer-Young et al. 2022 [Environmental Microbiology]: “Punch in the gut: parasite tolerance of phytochemicals reflects host diet.” American Bee Journal 162(6):677-679. pdf
May 2022: Summary of Levenson et al. 2022 [Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment]: “Evaluating the impact of increased pollinator habitat on bee visitation and yield metrics in soybean crops.” American Bee Journal 162(5):535-537. pdf
April 2022: Summary of Ricke et al. 2022 [Journal of Insect Science]: “Pollen treated with a combination of agrochemicals commonly applied during almond bloom reduces the emergence rate and longevity of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) queens.” American Bee Journal 162(4):423-425. pdf
March 2022: Summary of Ropars et al. 2022 [Oikos]: “Seasonal dynamics of competition between honey bees and wild bees in a protected Mediterranean scrubland.” American Bee Journal 162(3):325-327. pdf
February 2022: Summary of Dogantzis et al. 2021 [Science Advances]: “Thrice out of Asia and the adaptive radiation of the western honey bee.” American Bee Journal 162(2):217-219. pdf
January 2022: Summary of Pecenka et al. 2021 [PNAS]: “IPM reduces insecticide applications by 95% while maintaining or enhancing crop yields through wild pollinator conservation.” American Bee Journal 162(1):65-69. pdf
December 2021: Summary of Page et al. 2021 [American Journal of Botany]: “A meta-analysis of single visit pollination effectiveness comparing honeybees and other floral visitors.” American Bee Journal 161(12):1317-1319. pdf
November 2021: Summary of Burnham et al. 2021 [J. Applied Ecol.]: “Flowers as dirty doorknobs: Deformed wing virus transmitted between Apis mellifera and Bombus impatiens through shared flowers.” American Bee Journal 161(11):1225-1227. pdf
October 2021: Summary of Smith et al. 2021 [PNAS]: “Imperfect comb construction reveals the architectural abilities of honeybees.” American Bee Journal 161(10):1111-1113. pdf
September 2021: Summary of Gao et al. 2021 [PLoS Pathogens]: “Tropilaelaps mercedesae parasitism changes behavior and gene expression in honey bee workers.” American Bee Journal 161(9):981-984. pdf
August 2021: Summary of Krishnan et al. 2021 [PLoS One]: “Evaluating toxicity of Varroa mite (Varroa destructor)-active dsRNA to monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae.” American Bee Journal 161(8):907-909. pdf
July 2021: Summary of Chen et al. 2021 [Nature Food]: “Pollen-inspired enzymatic microparticles to reduce organophosphate toxicity in managed pollinators.” American Bee Journal 161(7):785-788. pdf
June 2021: Summary of Harwood et al. 2021 [Journal of Experimental Biology]: “Social immunity in honey bees: Royal jelly as a vehicle in transferring bacterial pathogen fragments between nestmates.” American Bee Journal 161(6):659-660. pdf
May 2021: Summary of Traynor et al. 2021 [Environmental Pollution]: “Pesticides in honey bee colonies: Establishing a baseline for real world exposure over seven years in the USA.” American Bee Journal 161(5):501-503. pdf
April 2021: Summary of Carpenter & Harpur 2021 [Apidologie]: “Genetic past, present, and future of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) in the United States of America.” American Bee Journal 161(4):417-420. pdf
March 2021: Summary of Haas & Nauen 2020 [Environment International]: “Pesticide risk assessment at the molecular level using honey bee cytochrome P450 enzymes: A complementary approach.” American Bee Journal 161(3):315-317. pdf
February 2021: Summary of Annoscia et al. 2020 [Nature Communications]: “Neonicotinoid clothianidin reduces honey bee immune response and contributes to Varroa mite proliferation”. American Bee Journal 161(2):211-213. pdf
January 2021: Summary of Bulson et al. 2020 [Journal of Applied Ecology]: “Long-term effects of antibiotic treatments on honeybee colony fitness: A modelling approach.” American Bee Journal 161(1):85-87. pdf
December 2020: Summary of Vernier et al. 2020 [Science Advances]: “The gut microbiome defines social group membership in honey bee colonies.” American Bee Journal 160(12):1359-1361. pdf
November 2020: Summary of Lark et al. 2020 [Nature Communications]: “Cropland expansion in the United States produces marginal yields at high costs to wildlife.” American Bee Journal 160(11):1237-1239. pdf
October 2020: Summary of Reilly et al. 2020 [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B]: “Crop production in the USA is frequently limited by a lack of pollinators.” American Bee Journal 160(10):1135-1137. pdf
September 2020: Summary of Grout et al. 2020: “Neonicotinoid insecticides in New York: Economic benefits and risk to pollinators.” American Bee Journal 160(9):1019-1022. pdf
August 2020: Summary of Ricigliano et al. 2020 [Apidologie]: “Nutritional and prebiotic efficacy of the microalga Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) in honey bees.” American Bee Journal 160(8):891-893. pdf
July 2020: Summary of Heller et al. 2020 [Environmental Pollution]: “Pollinator exposure to systemic insecticides and fungicides applied in the previous fall and pre-bloom period in apple orchards.” American Bee Journal 160(7):787-789. pdf
June 2020: Summary of Jack et al. 2020 [Journal of Economic Entomology]: “Evaluating the efficacy of oxalic acid vaporization and brood interruption in controlling the honey bee pest Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae).” American Bee Journal 160(6):691-693. pdf
May 2020: No article due to COVID.
April 2020: Summary of Leonard et al. 2020 [Science]: “Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens.” American Bee Journal 160(4):421-423. pdf
March 2020: Summary of Main et al. 2019 [Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment]: “Reduced species richness of native bees in field margins associated with neonicotinoid concentrations in non-target soils.” American Bee Journal 160(3):301-303. pdf
February 2020: Summary of Dolezal et al. 2019 [PNAS]: “Native habitat mitigates feast–famine conditions faced by honey bees in an agricultural landscape.” American Bee Journal 160(2):199-201. pdf
January 2020: Summary of Daisley et al. 2019 [ISME Journal]: “Novel probiotic approach to counter Paenibacillus larvae infection in honey bees.” American Bee Journal 160(1):71-73. pdf
December 2019: Summary of DeGrandi-Hoffman et al. 2019 [Journal of Economic Entomology]: “The economics of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) management and overwintering strategies for colonies used to pollinate almonds.” American Bee Journal 159(12):1325-1327. pdf
November 2019: Summary of Traniello et al. 2019 [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B]: “Valence of social information is encoded in different subpopulations of mushroom body Kenyon cells in the honeybee brain.” American Bee Journal 159(11):1241-1242. pdf
October 2019: Summary of Bartlett et al. 2019 [Journal of Applied Ecology]: “Industrial bees: The impact of apicultural intensification on local disease prevalence.” American Bee Journal 159(10):1115-1117. pdf
September 2019: Summary of Alger et al. 2019 [PLoS One]: “RNA virus spillover from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera)to wild bumblebees (Bombus spp.).” American Bee Journal 159(9):1009-1011. pdf
August 2019: Summary of Jactel et al. 2019 [Environment International]: “Alternatives to neonicotinoids.” American Bee Journal 159(8):883-884. pdf
July 2019: Summary of Sponsler et al. 2019 [Science of the Total Environment]: “Pesticides and pollinators: A socioecological synthesis.” American Bee Journal 159(7):791-793. pdf
June 2019: Summary of Powney et al. 2019 [Nature Communications]: “Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain.” American Bee Journal 159(6):683-685. pdf
May 2019: Summary of Wade et al. 2019 [Insects]: “Combined toxicity of insecticides and fungicides applied to California almond orchards to honey bee larvae and adults.” American Bee Journal 159(5):561-562. pdf
April 2019: Summary of Ramsey et al. 2019 [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States]: “Varroa destructor feeds primarily on honey bee fat body tissue and not hemolymph.” American Bee Journal 159(4):443-445. pdf
March 2019: Summary of Holder et al. 2018 [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 115:13033-13038]: “Fipronil pesticide as a suspect in historical mass mortalities of honey bees.” American Bee Journal 159(3):281-282. pdf
February 2019: Summary of Evans et al. 2018 [Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment]: “Wild, native bees and managed honey bees benefit from similar agricultural land uses.” American Bee Journal 159(2):199-201. pdf
January 2019: The “controversy” surrounding pesticide risk to bees. American Bee Journal 159(1):87-90. Co-authored with Dan Wixted, Cornell Pesticide Management Education Program. pdf
December 2018: Summary of Stamets et al. 2018 [Scientific Reports]: “Extracts of polypore mushroom mycelia reduce viruses in honey bees.” American Bee Journal 158(12):1383-1385. pdf
November 2018: Summary of Nicholls et al. 2018 [Environmental Science and Technology]: “Monitoring neonicotinoid exposure for bees in rural and peri-urban areas of the U.K. during the transition from pre- to post-moratorium.” American Bee Journal 158(11):1279-1281. pdf
October 2018: Summary of Kent et al. 2018 [Frontiers in Genetics]: “Conservation genomics of the declining North American bumblebee Bombus terricola reveals inbreeding and selection on immune genes.” American Bee Journal 158(10):1169-1170. pdf
September 2018: Summary of Utzeri et al. 2018 [Scientific Reports]: “Entomological signatures in honey: an environmental DNA metabarcoding approach can disclose information on plant-sucking insects in agricultural and forest landscapes.” American Bee Journal 158(9):1063-1064. pdf
August 2018: Summary of Oddie et al. 2018 [Scientific Reports]: “Rapid parallel evolution overcomes global honey bee parasite.” American Bee Journal 158(8):937-938. pdf
July 2018: Summary of Fisher et al. 2018 [Journal of Economic Entomology]: “The effects of the insect growth regulators methoxyfenozide and pyriproxyfen and the acaricide bifenazate on honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) forager survival.” American Bee Journal 158(7):821-822. pdf
June 2018: Summary of Luchetti et al. 2018 [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B]: “Nursing protects honey bee larvae from secondary metabolites of pollen.” American Bee Journal 158(6):701-702. pdf
May 2018: Summary of Bailes et al. 2018 [Biology Letters]: “First detection of bee viruses in hoverfly (syrphid) pollinators.” American Bee Journal 158(5):583-584. pdf
April 2018: Summary of Ziegelmann et al. 2018 [Scientific Reports]: “Lithium chloride effectively kills the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor by a systemic mode of action.” American Bee Journal 158(4):461-462. pdf
March 2018: Summary of Liao et al. 2017 [Scientific Reports]: “Behavioral responses of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to natural and synthetic xenobiotics in food.” American Bee Journal 158(3):333-334. pdf
February 2018: Summary of Lopez-Uribe et al. 2017 [Conservation Genetics]: “Higher immunocompetence is associated with higher genetic diversity in feral honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera).” American Bee Journal 158(2):203-204. pdf
January 2018: Summary of Hallmann et al. 2017 [Plos One]: “More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas.” American Bee Journal 158(1):53. pdf
December 2017: Summary of Mitchell et al. 2017 [Science]: “A worldwide survey of neonicotinoids in honey.” American Bee Journal 157(12):1283-1284. pdf