PREPARATORY ACTION FOR MONITORING OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION USING HONEY BEES
An article introducing the INSIGNIA project recently appeared in the March 2019 issue of the Scottish beekeepers’ magazine:
Alison Gray and the INSIGNIA Consortium, “Introducing INSIGNIA (environmental monitoring of pesticide use through honey bees”, The Scottish Beekeeper, 93(3), pp. 111, 113, 114. Continue reading “Presenting INSIGNIA in Scotland”
In the last days the parcels for citizen scientists were packed! Austrian citizen scientists all have their own pollen traps, so the other material was packed and send together with the picture manual to participants. Among others, it contains the sample bags, beehold tubes and the adapter for placing the beehold tubes in front of the pollen trap. Straws (for harvesting beebread) and stickers to label colonies are also provided. Though not complete yet, the picture below shows the content of the box for Austrian citizen scientists. Aluminium foil and disposable medical gloves may be added too!
In 2019, four different methods to sample pesticides and pollen diversity will be tested and compared in four countries (Austria, Denmark, England, Greece). The tests will be made by citizen scientists, which need three honey bee colonies on one apiary.
Here is a very rough scheme of the study setup!
Lot of innovation needed due to the diversity of bee-equipment all over Europe. Like for instance in Denmark, the bottom board has the pollen trap build into the board. Anyway, how to install the behold tubes in those bottom boards. Make an additional frame and close the traditional entrance. So easy? Leave the old entrance open for a day and then close and bees will very easy find the now beehold entrance.
The materials needed for participants are currently packed and shipped before Easter. Good chance to test the beehold tubes and adapter! As you can see, I put some tape around the adaptor to first make it more stable, and second reduce light in the adapter. I decided not to use black tape, as I was afraid of overheating in summer.
Continue reading “Testing beehold tubes and adapter in Austria before sending it to participants”
The materials needed to participate in INSIGNIA will be send out soon to citizen scientists! Here you can see the picture manual for instruction. It includes a step by step guidance on how to take and store samples, as well as a phenology list of important pollen sources.
For Austrian citizen scientists, the document was translated to German and a spiral binding folder was produced.
First day at the British Beekeepers Association Spring Convention at Harper Adams University, Shropshire, UK. Attended by some 2,000 or so people, this is a three day event with a lecture programme ranging from beginner beekeepers talks to the very scientific, this year with speakers from the UK, USA, Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy, workshops on a variety of practical topics, and a one day trade show. Several members of the INSIGNIA Consortium have given talks at the conference over the last few years. Today Norman Carreck gave a talk about “science for the beekeeper” showing the importance of using the results of bee research to improve our understanding of bee biology, and hence to help the beekeeper to understand bee behaviour and improve our beekeeping. He used as an example the COLOSS CSI Pollen project and introduced the new INSIGNIA project to the audience. Two of the UK beekeeper volunteers who will be talking part this season are present at the convention.
The Italian beekeeper’s magazine APINSIEME recently published an article about the INSIGNIA project. Italy is one of the partners of the INSIGNIA consortium that covers 12 European countries.
During the week, Sjef and Flemming wanted to produce the instruction videos based on the picture manual. In Denmark, yes Denmark, where spring is still only slowly coming and march until now has been the most rainy march until now – ever. So rain and temperature around 5 degrees, was the work conditions. During the practical filming we needed to put up a tent to protect for the rain. You never know the weather predictions this time of the year. Colonies where gentle, not flying a lot. We manage to make our recordings, even we did freeze during the day.
We got lot of experiences. We nearly made all the mistakes we could make. We had to redo the videos several times. But we made improvements and found out some mistakes.
Sjef and Flemming
A personal view of the Apimondia symposium held from 13-14 February in Rome by Sjef van der Steen
This is my personal impression, not describing the presentations, talks and posters but my interpretation. The note will therefore be biased towards my personal interests and work-fields. For detailed information, you can find the abstracts in the Apimondia symposium abstract book of this event. Many veterinarians attended the meeting, showing the interest of veterinarians in bee health and the environmental impact of bee well being and the direction of Apimondia in this. The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe presented a veterinarian approach of bee disease. To outline the position of honeybees in veterinary, honeybees are considered to be MUMS (Minor User = Minor Species). The FAO was present its SPGs (Sustainable development Goals) in which beekeeping plays an important role in banning poverty. Continue reading “Personal view of the Apimondia symposium”