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Introduction Jean-Pierre Scheelinch is a Professor in Animal biotechnology at the Faculty of Veterinary & Agricultural Sciences with a strong interest in development of vaccines, animal models for human diseases and immunology. Professor Jean studied a Bachelor of Science, specialising in Zoology between 1983 to 1987 before graduating to study a Master of Science in Biotechnology in 1983-1987. Afterwards, Jean continued further studies with a PhD in Immunology, with honours from 1987-1992 (“Jean-Pierre Scheelinck”, 2020). In this forum, the speaker delivers an overarching message that highlights the importance of sustainability in beekeeping, as well as the many issues associated with migratory beekeeping worldwide. Main Points 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Beekeeping technology Role of honeybees in Australia Migratory beekeeping Colony collapse disorder and varroa Slovene beekeepers

Beekeeping technology One of the first points introduced by speaker were the history and evolution of beekeeping technology. Movable frames were invented by Rev Langstroth which allowed honey to be extracted from hives without destroying bees, thus, benefiting many beekeeping practices such as swarm migration in the western world. Despite the certain advantages of the Langstroth hive, studies have found problems with implementing this system in beekeeping sectors of some developing countries such as in East Africa. According to a study by McMenamin, A., Mumoki, F., Frazier, M. et al (2017), Langstroth hives suffered from poor construction whilst beekeepers had little knowledge of the workings of the system. In addition, traditional fixed frames were cheaper, costing $4-10 whilst movable frames costed $50-70 which were more than five times more expensive, thus many rural beekeepers were unable to afford the system, leading to fixed frames dominating 96% of beekeeper’s inventories. Therefore, it is important for groups to implement the most suitable type of beekeeping technology that considers of local contexts.

Role of Honeybees The European Honeybee was introduced to Australia in 1822 by early colonist to start production of honey and crop utilization (Anne and Les, 2020). According to Professor Jean, European honeybees are used as collectors of wild nectar. This has led to the production of 25,000 tons of honey annually in Australia and 647,000 hives distributed across 20,000 registered Beekeepers. In addition, up to 200,000 hives provide pollination to Australian crops, therefore, European honeybees has made a substantial contribution to the pollination of flowers and crops by allowing them to reproduce from a distance. Without bees, the speaker

has described the situation as a grocery store without vital fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, and cherries. Despite the importance of bees, it has also been acknowledged that bees are not the only crucial pollinators, with non-bees performing 25-50% of flower visits across 39 field studies from five continents by Rader et al. (2015). From this study, it was found that although non-bees were not as effective pollinators compared to bees per visit, they benefitted from resilience to changes in the landscape and frequent visits to flowers.

Migratory Beekeeping Professor Jean highlighted the large practice of migratory beekeeping in Australia due to agricultural operations such fruit and almond production. Migratory beekeeping revolves around the pollination of crops, by transporting bees to different areas throughout different seasons. Supported by evidence from a study on impacts of migratory beekeeping by Alger, Burnham, Lamas, Brody and Richardson (2018), found that increases in viral pathogen and parasite loads as a result of migration of bees to pollinate California almonds in the US. Consequently, colonies returned with fewer bees compared to stationary colonies, more deformed wing virus and infestations, concluding that this practice increases the risks of colony collapse disorder, which is further contributed by agricultural practices such as pesticide exposure

Varroa and Colony Collapse disorder As part of migratory beekeeping, the speaker also mentioned the challenges of Varroa destructor; a deadly pathogen that feeds on honeybees by consuming fat bodies from the bee, which in turn weakens the individual workers, contributing to colony collapse disorder. Invasion from mites and parasites can happen during transportation where bees are prone to infestation, resulting in death of baby bees in cells as mites can easily infect larvae. According to Boylu and Onder (2019), breeding Varroa-resistant bees became the primary goal for many researchers around the world, with attempts to increase the resilience of bees against these mites, for example, by identifying more hygienic behaviour of bees, such as grooming that correlates with the removal of Varroa infestations. Ultimately, resilience of honeybees can be passed on by increasing the heritability through a selection process.

Slovene beekeepers Compared to beekeeping in Australia, the speaker calls attention to the more sustainable and amateur practices of Slovene beekeepers such as their use of bee houses. In Slovenia, majority of bees are not migrated but instead kept with the beekeeper near orchards which has led to more sustainable outcomes of bee populations in Slovenia. According to Kozmus and Gregorc (2015), the strong coexistence of Slovene people with honeybees has helped led to the development of bee houses, which stemmed from the need for honey as a sweetening agent and wax for candles. These houses helped shelter the hive from the harsh Slovene weather, and insulated the hive from coldness in winter, as well as the heat in summer. In addition, Slovene beekeepers are known to back their own native Carniolan Bee, which has long adapted to the local environments of Slovenia when compared to imported bees. This

meant beekeeping was more sustainable, as native bees tolerate the local climate better than imported bees and were less prone to diseases due to their well-developed hygienic behaviour (Kozmus and Gregorc 2015). Therefore, Australia and other countries should learn from Slovene beekeeping practices, by building a stronger relationship with bees and supporting native species, to ensure sustainability in beekeeping in the future.

Conclusion In summary, Professor Jean has delivered an overarching message of how sustainable beekeeping in Australia is compared with the world, as well as the many issues facing beekeepers worldwide. Although beekeeping technology has advanced with many breakthroughs such as the movable frame, careful consideration the local contexts should be given in developing areas where beekeepers are more familiar with traditional systems. Furthermore, the role of bees in pollination is crucial in Australia and worldwide, yet the importance of other non-bee pollinators should also be recognized. Finally, migratory beekeeping often introduces problems such as increased risk of diseases and colony collapse disorder, thus it is important to focus on solutions such as breeding mite-resistant bees as well as learn from more sustainable practices such as bee houses and use of native bees for honey production and crop pollination.

References Jean-Pierre Scheelinck. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpscheerlinck/? originalSubdomain=au McMenamin, A., Mumoki, F., Frazier, M. et al. The impact of hive type on the behaviour and health of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) in Kenya (2017). Apidologie 48, 703–715 (2017). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-017-0515-5. Anne, D., Les, D. Introduced species of bees in Australia (2020). Australian Native Bee Research Centre. Retrieved from https://www.aussiebee.com.au/feral-bees.html Romina, R., Ignasi, B., Lucas A., G. et al. Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination (2015). Retrieved from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/1/146 Alger, S. A., Burnham, P. A., Lamas, Z. S., Brody, A. K., & Richardson, L. L. (2018). Home sick: impacts of migratory beekeeping on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pests, pathogens, and colony size. PeerJ, 6, e5812. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5812 Boylu, Dilşan & Önder, Hasan. (2019). HONEY BEE BREEDING FOR VARROA RESISTANCE. 2. 63-65. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331062964_HONEY_BEE_BREEDING_FOR_VA RROA_RESISTANCE Kozmus, Peter & Gregorc, Aleš. (2015). Slovenia: Small country with great beekeeping experience. Bee World. 86. 65-68. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277616644_Slovenia_Small_country_with_great_b eekeeping_experience...