Preliminary analysis of loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from the COLOSS survey

Brodschneider, Robert and Gray, Alison and van der Zee, Romée and Adjlane, Noureddine and Brusbardis, Valters and Charrière, Jean-Daniel and Chlebo, Robert and Coffey, Mary F. and Crailsheim, Karl and Dahle, Bjørn and Danihlík, Jiří and Danneels, Ellen and de Graaf, Dirk C. and Dražić, Marica Maja and Fedoriak, Mariia and Forsythe, Ivan and Golubovski, Miroljub and Gregorc, Ales and Grzęda, Urszula and Hubbuck, Ian and Tunca, Rahşan İvgin and Kauko, Lassi and Kilpinen, Ole and Kretavicius, Justinas and Kristiansen, Preben and Martikkala, Maritta and Martín-Hernández, Raquel and Mutinelli, Franco and Peterson, Magnus and Otten, Christoph and Ozkirim, Aslı and Raudmets, Aivar and Simon-Delso, Noa and Soroker, Victoria and Topolska, Grazyna and Vallon, Julien and Vejsnæs, Flemming and Woehl, Saskia (2016) Preliminary analysis of loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from the COLOSS survey. Journal of Apicultural Research, 55 (5). pp. 375-378. ISSN 2078-6913) (https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2016.1260240)

[thumbnail of Brodschneider-etal-JAR2016-Preliminary-analysis-of-loss-rates-of-honey-bee-colonies-during-winter]
Preview
 Text. Filename: Brodschneider_etal_JAR2016_Preliminary_analysis_of_loss_rates_of_honey_bee_colonies_during_winter.pdf
Final Published Version
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 logo
Download (868kB)| Preview

Abstract

In this short note we present comparable loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from 29 countries, obtained with the COLOSS questionnaire. Altogether, we received valid answers from 19,952 beekeepers. These beekeepers collectively wintered 421,238 colonies, and reported 18,587 colonies with unsolvable queen problems and 32,048 dead colonies after winter. This gives an overall loss rate of 12.0% (95% confidence interval 11.8%-12.2%) during winter 2015/16, with marked differences among countries. Beekeepers in the present study assessed 7.6% (95% CI 7.4%-7.8%) of their colonies as dead or empty, and 4.4% (95% CI 4.3%-4.5%) as having unsolvable queen problems after winter. The overall analysis showed that small operations suffered higher losses than larger ones. A table with detailed results and a map showing response and relative risks at regional level are presented.

ORCID iDs

Brodschneider, Robert, Gray, Alison ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6273-0637, van der Zee, Romée, Adjlane, Noureddine, Brusbardis, Valters, Charrière, Jean-Daniel, Chlebo, Robert, Coffey, Mary F., Crailsheim, Karl, Dahle, Bjørn, Danihlík, Jiří, Danneels, Ellen, de Graaf, Dirk C., Dražić, Marica Maja, Fedoriak, Mariia, Forsythe, Ivan, Golubovski, Miroljub, Gregorc, Ales, Grzęda, Urszula, Hubbuck, Ian, Tunca, Rahşan İvgin, Kauko, Lassi, Kilpinen, Ole, Kretavicius, Justinas, Kristiansen, Preben, Martikkala, Maritta, Martín-Hernández, Raquel, Mutinelli, Franco, Peterson, Magnus, Otten, Christoph, Ozkirim, Aslı, Raudmets, Aivar, Simon-Delso, Noa, Soroker, Victoria, Topolska, Grazyna, Vallon, Julien, Vejsnæs, Flemming and Woehl, Saskia;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)