Honey bees, parasites, pathogens and pesticides. A seminar by Phil Lester *IN-PERSON and ONLINE*

Date/Time
Date(s) - Tue 23 March
12:00 - 13:00

Location
KK301, Kirk Building, VUW


What hurts honey bees in New Zealand? In this talk I’ll review the health of our honey bee populations. We typically see over-wintering mortality rates of approximately 10-11% of hives each year, which is substantially lower than the rates of hive loss in overseas populations. A key mortality driver is the parasitic mite Varroa. Bees suffer from Varroa feeding and the viruses that Varroa spread, in addition to fungal and bacterial pathogens. Wasps raid hives and kill colonies. What about pesticides? Pesticides can be found in bee hives and may affect bees. However, the impact of many of these chemicals, including neonicotinoids, on honey bees is not clear. I’ll finish the talk by discussing invasive species that are appearing on the horizon.

All Welcome!
Please note that we will be recording this seminar via Zoom.
Zoom https://vuw.zoom.us/j/92322836929