Standard survey methods for estimating colony losses and explanatory risk factors in Apis mellifera

By Romée van der Zee, A. Gray, C. Holzmann, L. Pisa, Robert Brodschneider, R. Chlebo, M. Coffey, A. Kence, Preben Kristiansen, F. Mutinelli and 7 more. 2013

94 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Summary This chapter addresses survey methodology and questionnaire design for the collection of data pertaining to estimation of honey bee colony loss rates and identification of risk factors for colony loss. Sources of error in surveys are described. Advantages and disadvantages of different random and non-random sampling strategies and different modes of data collection are presented to enable the researcher to make an informed choice. We discuss survey and questionnaire methodology in some detail, for the purpose of raising awareness of issues to be considered during the survey design stage in order to minimise error and bias in the results. Aspects of survey design are illustrated using surveys in Scotland. Part of a standardized questionnaire is given as a further example, developed by the COLOSS working group for Monitoring and Diagnosis. Approaches to data analysis are described, focussing on estimation of loss rates. Dutch monitoring data from 2012 were used for an example of a statistical analysis with the public domain R software. We demonstrate the estimation of the overall proportion of losses and corresponding confidence interval using a quasi-binomial model to account for extra-binomial variation. We also illustrate generalized linear model fitting when incorporating a single risk factor, and derivation of relevant confidence intervals.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/713d0d120e0262ef7997af8f586fbed791192482

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Genetics

In Insect Science

Citations in the corpus

Trends in beekeeping and honey bee colony losses in Latin America (2018, methodology): “Moreover, such methodological diversity prevents proper spatial and temporal comparisons (van der Zee et al., 2013; van Engelsdorp et al., 2013), and limits the understanding of the causes of colony losses in LA.”
A survey of managed honey bee colony losses in the Republic of South Africa–2009 to 2011 (2014, methodology): “This survey was a survey of convenience with snowballing recruitment and it was based on the standard survey methods (Van Der Zee et al., 2013) modified for the southern hemisphere.”
Multi-country loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2016/2017 from the COLOSS survey (2018, methodology): “Achieving representativeness of the beekeeper population is an important issue in estimation of loss rates (van der Zee et al., 2013).”
Honey bee colony winter loss rates for 35 countries participating in the COLOSS survey for winter 2018–2019, and the effects of a new queen on the risk of colony winter loss (2020, methodology): “Each such survey is carried out via a network of national co-ordinators organising sample selection and using a self-administered standardised questionnaire developed by the monitoring group (van der Zee et al., 2013), which is reviewed and improved each year as it is felt necessary or desirable.”
Loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2017/18 in 36 countries participating in the COLOSS survey, including effects of forage sources (2019, methodology): “This ongoing research effort now involves many European and some additional countries, who undertake annual national surveys of beekeepers via a self-administered questionnaire involving standardized questions for comparability of responses (van der Zee et al., 2013).”
Preliminary analysis of loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from the COLOSS survey (2016, methodology): “Mak- ing use of standardized methods for surveys of beekeep- ers (van der Zee et al., 2013), this investigation provides a quick, but well accepted, measure of colony loss rates, and aims to identify regions with increased risk as well as to identify best practice hive management.”
Standard methods for virus research in Apis mellifera (2013, background): “For more detail information on how to manage these different approaches, see the BEEBOOK papers on epidemiology (vanEngelsdorp et al., 2013) and surveys (van der Zee et al., 2013).”
A national survey of managed honey bee 2013–2014 annual colony losses in the USA (2015, unknown): “One source could be that the survey was not random as described by van der Zee et al. 2013, which may result in bias in the type of respondents.”