The Future of Bees, the Future of Life

Breakthrough science supporting better bee health

Honey bees travelling from flower to flower are more than just a pretty sight; the species is the world’s most important pollinator. Environmental changes including new agricultural practices mean high levels of concern globally about pollinator safety. Eurofins companies are leading efforts to support and protect bee health and reverse the trend. Their innovative approach to homing behaviour studies, for instance, is on its way to becoming part of standard industry protocols.

The Eurofins Agroscience Services business line developed an innovative method for fully investigating the effects of pesticides on the homing behaviour of honey and bumble bees. Tiny radio frequency identification transponders with unique identification numbers are permanently and harmlessly attached to each bee’s thorax. The transponders are registered by scanners at the hive entrance whenever a bee enters or leaves, allowing their homing rate to be assessed.

One sample of experienced forager bees is fed different doses of an insecticide and compared to an untreated control sample. The bees are caught and fed within one day. At the end of the study, available data covers the duration of return flights after feeding and the return rate or homing success as a possible indicator of disorientation. The study design can also be adapted to include realistic field-exposure scenarios and to observe delayed effects for the remaining flowering period of the crop. The Eurofins method provides data crucial to understanding the impact of the insecticide and any direct links between test types and their impact on bee health. The method was also successfully applied in a field study with bumble bees. Furthermore, since 2021 Eurofins Agroscience Services has participated in a novel approach to count bees entering and leaving the hive. The bee counter is developed with a start-up and can not only count bees entering and leaving the hive but also notes if a bee brings pollen into the hive.

Just as innovatively, companies of the network pioneered a field application method to assess the impact of abraded dust from pesticide-treated seeds on honeybees. Varying particle size makes the dust inherently more difficult to test than liquid substances; however, abraded pesticide particles or contaminated dust contain high concentrations of pesticide and can prove toxic to bees actively collecting pollen and nectar. Finding a solution was imperative, but previous trials proved labour-intensive and complicated and were affected by numerous factors including wind direction. A Eurofins company developed a purpose-built dust applicator which improved risk assessment methodology and opened up a range of field trials to investigate potential side effects on bees and other organisms.

Eurofins companies also take an innovative approach to breeding methods for honey bees, using genome-wide DNA analysis. Working alongside the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany, and the department of Molecular Biology and Genetic, Aarhus University, Denmark, they have sequenced bee genomes using Next Generation Sequencing to identify genomic loci that regulate a worker honey bee’s ability to detect and remove diseased or infested brood, a key ‘hygienic behavior’ to protect the colony against the Varroa parasite. They have also been able to characterise genetic variants that impact this trait. A new testing solution from Eurofins, launched in late 2023, can help to breed more resistant colonies by selecting bees that exhibit this hygienic behaviour, leading to healthier bee populations that support functional eco-systems.

The science behind