EVENT ALERT: Catch the Vespa velutina webinar on September 14th at 2:00pm EST. Topics include the Vespa velutina invasion in Spain and Italy, as well as local (U.S.) updates. Register to attend live, HERE. This event will also be recorded and shared at a later date. Detailed agenda below. Download this flier HERE. In this webinar you will hear from Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) representatives with monitoring updates, and scientists working with beekeepers and Vespa in Europe. The webinar will be two hours including time for Q & A at the end.
Webinar Agenda: 2:00 pm to 2:15 pm :Hello and Welcome- Grace Kunkel, Project Apis m. and Overview/Introductions- Brooke Decker, Vice President of AIA 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm: -Research update from COLOSS Dr. Rojas Nossa & Dr. Cini 2:45 pm to 3:05 pm: - Updates from AIA Brad Cavin & David Williams 3:05 pm to 3:15 pm: - Native and non-native Hymenoptera survey Karen Roccasecca 3:15 pm to 3:25 pm - Discussion on Veto-Pharma Vespa traps Amber Leach 3:25 pm to 4:00 pm - Questions and Discussion
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Live Event: The Heat Shock Response in The Western Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Is Antiviral.8/28/2023 I have been fascinated by the cellular and molecular aspects of disease since my first biology class in high school. For most folks with that type of interest the obvious path is to study human disease with the goal of finding new therapies and diagnostic tools. So, I pursued a PhD in biomedical sciences and was trained in uncovering the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying diseases of the blood and cancer in humans. By the time I was doing my post-doctoral work, I had a growing interest in the food system and the organisms that are part of it. After taking a beekeeping class in 2009, I became captivated by honey bees with their critical role in pollination in both natural and agricultural ecosystems and decided to apply my biomedical training towards developing approaches to help protect honey bee health. Since that fateful decision, it has been quite a journey with a steep learning curve and lots of ups and downs. The support I have gotten from Project Apis m. (PAm) has been instrumental in helping me to move from a beginner to making potentially important contributions in the field of honey bee health.
Salt Lake City, Utah-August 22nd 2022.
Managed honey bees in North America continue to be under increasing pressure to meet pollination demands for our food supply. At the same time, annual colony losses are increasing- 48.2% in the US in 2022, and the natural forage which gives bees healthy nutrition and a honey crop for producers is decreasing. Colony losses are often attributed to pathogens, parasites, pesticides, hive management (queen mating, genetics, maintenance), climate, and available nutrition. United States honey production in 2022 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 126 million pounds, down 1% from 2021 .Sustainable beekeeping is dependent on maximizing outputs (colony health, colony numbers, pollination contracts, honey production, profitability) while minimizing the inputs (time, money, personnel, treatments). A sustainable beekeeping industry contributes to a more sustainable agricultural landscape through a stable supply of bees for crop pollination. Therefore, Project Apis m. (PAm) is requesting research proposals that focus on enhancing the health, survival, and productivity of honey bee colonies, which provide practical and tangible solutions to the beekeeping industry. Project Apis m. has funded over $10 million dollars of honey bee research! This is a very notable feat for a grassroots, beekeeper supported, beekeeper directed non-profit organization that primarily supports applied research aimed at mitigating honey bee colony losses and improving honey bee health. In recognition of this major milestone, Danielle Downey, Executive Director of Project Apis m., asked me to write about PAm from my perspective as a scientist and member of the scientific advisory board. This task proved more difficult that I thought since I began interacting with PAm after meeting Christi Heintz during my postdoc at UCSF almost 15 years ago! Those of you who knew Christi know that she was a passionate and highly motivated person. She helped fuel my desire to learn more about honey bees, encouraged me to always learn from expert commercial beekeepers, and helped ensure that my research directions are aimed at benefiting bees and beekeepers. As a honey bee researcher and member of the scientific advisory team, I think major strengths of PAm include: (1) most of the funds are used to address questions and/or problems facing the beekeeping industry (i.e., practical/applied research), (2) some funding supports basic science, aimed at understanding the fundamentals of bee biology, (3) funding decisions are made by the PAm Board, which is primarily made up of commercial beekeepers, and (4) while the grant submission, review, and reporting processes are rigorous they are also streamlined to ensure funds can quickly be used to support bee research. I am a strong supporter and advocate for bee research and PAm.
Project Apis m. recently called for proposals (RFP) for the Healthy Hives research initiative. Healthy Hives was created in 2015 to identify tangible solutions to improve honey bee colony health in the U.S. and find ways that commercial beekeeping operations can improve production and efficiency while reducing costs. Working with a combined $1.5 Million investment from Bayer, previously funded projects include a comprehensive assessment of pollen substitutes, the development of the Indoor Storage Guide and the Bee Integrated Demonstration project. Project Apis m. is seeking a Communications Manager to join our team to support and promote our California-based Climate-Smart Habitat program and the Seeds for Bees program as well as PAm generally.
Below are the details of the position, and you can download a copy of the position announcement HERE. Help us get the word out! This position is open until filled. Project Apis m. seeks a qualified seed supplier that can fulfill our planned seed orders for the 2023 cover crop planting season, June – December 2023 related to their sub-awarded USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Partnerships project. The selected contractor shall be responsible for providing the particular seed mixes and estimated quantities outlined below. Please read the complete RFP for supplier requirements and application instructions.
Seed Mixes Expected seed mixes include but are not limited to the following and contents may change on an as needed basis:
The seed provider should expect the majority of seed orders to be the Pollinator Brassica mix, with an estimated need of 16 tons in the first year. The estimated need for the Perennial Carbon Mix 2 is 4.5 tons, NitroBuilder is estimated at 8 tons, Annual Bee Clover is estimated at 5 tons, and Pollinator Wildflower is estimated at 0.5 ton in the first year. Contractors will be selected based on how well they are able to meet the organization’s needs. Preference will be given to contractors with technical proposals that meet all requirements set forth in the RFP. Please review the complete RFP which includes application instructions. Hawaii is a major producer of queen bees for both the U.S. and Canada due to it’s tropical climate enabling year-round queens production. Hawaii’s terrain and geographical isolation can also be ideal for breeding queens that carry specific genes. For many years, PAm's Executive Director Danielle Downey has been working in Hilo, HI working on just such a breeding project. Follow along with Danielle explaining the process of installing newly inseminated queens.
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