Expert-based best management practices for US beekeepers
Monday, November 16, 2015: 10:00 AM
208 C (Convention Center)
Nathalie Steinhauer
,
Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Claude Saegerman
,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liege, Belgium
Karen Rennich
,
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Michael Wilson
,
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Dennis vanEngelsdorp
,
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
A survey of honey bee (
Apis mellifera) mortalities in the US over the past 8 years revealed an average of one in three colony dying over the winter (vanEngelsdorp et al., 2007 Am Bee J 147(7): 599–603, 2008 PLosONE 3(12), 2010 J.Apic.Res. 49(1): 7–14, 2011 J.Apic.Res.50(1): 1–10 and 2012 J.Apic.Res. 51(1): 115–124; Spleen et al., 2013 J.Apic.Res. 52(2): 44–53; Steinhauer et al., 2014 J.Apic.Res.53(1): 1–18); Lee et al., 2015 Apidologie 46(3):292-305). More recently, a surprisingly high level of summer loss was recorded (Steinhauer et al., 2014 J.Apic.Res.53(1): 1–18); Lee et al., 2015 Apidologie 46(3):292-305, BIP 2014-2015 preliminary results, unpublished), mostly in commercial beekeepers.
We used an expert-based scoring grid to rank beekeepers based on their answers to a management practices questionnaire. We successfully developed a scoring system able to aggregate complex management information in a simple index correlating with increased survivorship of colonies over the winter.
We pursued by subjecting our model to a sensitivity analysis to identify the core management criteria driving the correlation. The top management criteria were identified in various subsets of respondents, resulting in different set of regionally and operation-size specific recommendations. The disparity of top influencing criteria between operation types illustrates the divergence in the beekeeping industry and the need of extension programs to address backyard and commercial beekeepers independently.
