A Survey of Honey Bee Colony Losses in the U.S., Fall 2007 to Spring 2008

By D. vanEngelsdorp, Jerry W. Hayes, R. Underwood, J. Pettis. PLoS ONE, 2008

627 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background Honey bees are an essential component of modern agriculture. A recently recognized ailment, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), devastates colonies, leaving hives with a complete lack of bees, dead or alive. Up to now, estimates of honey bee population decline have not included losses occurring during the wintering period, thus underestimating actual colony mortality. Our survey quantifies the extent of colony losses in the United States over the winter of 2007–2008. Methodology/Principal Findings Surveys were conducted to quantify and identify management factors (e.g. operation size, hive migration) that contribute to high colony losses in general and CCD symptoms in particular. Over 19% of the country's estimated 2.44 million colonies were surveyed. A total loss of 35.8% of colonies was recorded; an increase of 11.4% compared to last year. Operations that pollinated almonds lost, on average, the same number of colonies as those that did not. The 37.9% of operations that reported having at least some of their colonies die with a complete lack of bees had a total loss of 40.8% of colonies compared to the 17.1% loss reported by beekeepers without this symptom. Large operations were more likely to have this symptom suggesting that a contagious condition may be a causal factor. Sixty percent of all colonies that were reported dead in this survey died without dead bees, and thus possibly suffered from CCD. In PA, losses varied with region, indicating that ambient temperature over winter may be an important factor. Conclusions/Significance Of utmost importance to understanding the recent losses and CCD is keeping track of losses over time and on a large geographic scale. Given that our surveys are representative of the losses across all beekeeping operations, between 0.75 and 1.00 million honey bee colonies are estimated to have died in the United States over the winter of 2007–2008. This article is an extensive survey of U.S. beekeepers across the continent, serving as a reference for comparison with future losses as well as providing guidance to future hypothesis-driven research on the causes of colony mortality.

Subfields: Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b0ae10f9c97981aa55ed30ad20627d2a1df0c8c1

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In Genetics

1. J. Pettis
2. P. Neumann
3. D. vanEngelsdorp
4. J. Ellis
5. Jay D. Evans
6. Robert Brodschneider
7. C. Pirk
8. H. Human

In Insect Science

1. D. vanEngelsdorp
2. J. Pettis
3. P. Neumann
4. J. Ellis
5. Jay D. Evans
6. Robert Brodschneider
7. C. Pirk
8. S. Potts

Citations in the corpus

• Colony losses, managed colony population decline, and Colony Collapse Disorder in the United States (2010, methodology): “The AIA and USDA-ARS conducted a similar survey for the 2008-9 winter (vanEngelsdorp et al., 2010).”
• Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination (2015, neutral): “…on this single pollinator species is a risky strategy, especially given major threats to the health of managed honey bee colonies because of poor nutrition, the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman (Mesostigmata: Varroidae), and a number of other pests and diseases (7 – 10).”
• Results of international standardised beekeeper surveys of colony losses for winter 2012–2013: analysis of winter loss rates and mixed effects modelling of risk factors for winter loss (2014, background): “…in recent years in many countries (Neumann and Carreck, 2010; Potts et al., 2010), notably from 2006 onwards in the USA (Ellis et al., 2010; vanEngelsdorp et al., 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012; Spleen et al., 2013; Steinhauer et al., 2014) but subsequently in many other places (Aston, 2010;…”
• Declines of managed honey bees and beekeepers in Europe (2010, background): “In the USA, the statistics show declines in honey bee colonies in 1947-1972, 1989-1996, a recent drop in 2005 (National Research Council, 2006), as well as major losses in the past two years (vanEngelsdorp et al., 2008).”
• Chronic impairment of bumblebee natural foraging behaviour induced by sublethal pesticide exposure (2014, background): “…& Kremen 2006; Winfree et al. 2007, 2008), so it is particularly worrying that populations have experienced significant declines in recent years (Old- royd 2007; vanEngelsdorp et al. 2008; Goulson, Lye & Darvill 2008; Brown & Paxton 2009; Cameron et al. 2011; Burkle, Marlin & Knight 2013).”
• Surveys as a tool to record winter losses of honey bee colonies: a two year case study in Austria and South Tyrol (2010, background): “DOI: 10.3896/IBRA.1.49.1.27 USDA, CCD STEERING COMMITTEE (2007) “Colony Collapse Disorder Action Plan,” June 20, 2007.”
• Diet effects on honeybee immunocompetence (2010, background): “…honeybee populations have been declining over the last years and a current idea suggests that honeybee colonies may suffer from a compromised immune system (van Engelsdorp et al. 2008), which could be related to poor nutrition commonly associated with colony losses (van Engelsdorp et al. 2008).”