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. 2016 May 16;11(5):e0155411.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155411. eCollection 2016.

The Status of Honey Bee Health in Italy: Results from the Nationwide Bee Monitoring Network

Claudio Porrini  1 , Franco Mutinelli  2 , Laura Bortolotti  3 , Anna Granato  2 , Lynn Laurenson  4 , Katherine Roberts  4 , Albino Gallina  2 , Nicholas Silvester  2 , Piotr Medrzycki  3 , Teresa Renzi  1 , Fabio Sgolastra  1 , Marco Lodesani  3
Affiliations

The Status of Honey Bee Health in Italy: Results from the Nationwide Bee Monitoring Network

Claudio Porrini et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

In Italy a nation-wide monitoring network was established in 2009 in response to significant honey bee colony mortality reported during 2008. The network comprised of approximately 100 apiaries located across Italy. Colonies were sampled four times per year, in order to assess the health status and to collect samples for pathogen, chemical and pollen analyses. The prevalence of Nosema ceranae ranged, on average, from 47-69% in 2009 and from 30-60% in 2010, with strong seasonal variation. Virus prevalence was higher in 2010 than in 2009. The most widespread viruses were BQCV, DWV and SBV. The most frequent pesticides in all hive contents were organophosphates and pyrethroids such as coumaphos and tau-fluvalinate. Beeswax was the most frequently contaminated hive product, with 40% of samples positive and 13% having multiple residues, while 27% of bee-bread and 12% of honey bee samples were contaminated. Colony losses in 2009/10 were on average 19%, with no major differences between regions of Italy. In 2009, the presence of DWV in autumn was positively correlated with colony losses. Similarly, hive mortality was higher in BQCV infected colonies in the first and second visits of the year. In 2010, colony losses were significantly related to the presence of pesticides in honey bees during the second sampling period. Honey bee exposure to poisons in spring could have a negative impact at the colony level, contributing to increase colony mortality during the beekeeping season. In both 2009 and 2010, colony mortality rates were positively related to the percentage of agricultural land surrounding apiaries, supporting the importance of land use for honey bee health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Authors Lynn Laurenson and Katherine Roberts are employed by FERA. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Location of the modules of the ApeNet monitoring network.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Pathogen infections: percentage over years and sampling periods of honey bee samples positive for Nosema ceranae (A), BQCV (B), DWV (C), SBV (D), CBPV (E) and ABPV (F).
Boxes include 50% of the measured values and lines represent the median values. Whiskers include 90% of the data.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Pathogen occurrence: bars represent the percentage of positive samples of Nosema ceranae, CBPV, SBV, BCVV, DWV and ABPV, in 2009 (A) and 2010 (B).
Values on y-axis range from 0 to 100%.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Pollen quality: percentage over years and sampling periods of raw protein in bee-bread.
Boxes include 50% of the measured values and lines represent the median values. Whiskers include 90% of the data.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Pollen quality: bars represent the percentage of raw proteins in bee-bread in 2009 and 2010.
Values on y-axis range from 0 to 30%.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Pesticide contamination: percentage over years and sampling periods of honey bee (A), bee-bread (B) and beeswax (C) samples positive for pesticides.
Boxes include 50% of the measured values and lines represent the median values. Whiskers include 90% of the data.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Pesticide contamination: bars represent the percentage of positive samples of honey bees, bee-bread and beeswax in 2009 (A) and 2010 (B).
Values on y-axis range from 0 to 100%.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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