Monitoring honey bee healthin five natural protected areas in Italy

Authors

  • Valter Bellucci Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144 Rome, Italy.
  • Stefano Lucci Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144 Rome, Italy.
  • Pietro Bianco Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144 Rome, Italy.
  • Alessandro Ubaldi Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, Rome 00178, Italy
  • Antonio Felicioli 3Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy
  • Claudio Porrini Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie (DipSA), Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni 33, Bologna 40126, Italy
  • Franco Mutinelli Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, National Reference Laboratory for Beekeeping, Viale Dell’Università, 10, Legnaro (PD) 35020, Italy
  • Sabrina Battisti 2Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana ‘M. Aleandri’, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy.
  • Valentina Spallucci Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, Rome 00178, Italy
  • Antonella Cersini Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, Rome 00178, Italy
  • Marco Pietropaoli Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, Rome 00178, Italy
  • Giovanni Formato Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, Rome 00178, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12834/1209.6739.4

Abstract

The health status of the honey bee populations has attracted a great amount of interest in recent years. We investigated honey bee health in five natural protected areas in Italy from October 2009 to December 2010. Areas were selected to represent a wide range of bio‑geographical zones including alpine, continental, and Mediterranean. Within each of these natural protected areas, one apiary of 20 colonies near potential pollution sources (e.g., agricultural areas, industrial areas, or urban settlements) and another apiary of 20 colonies far from possible sources of pollutants have been placed. To monitor honey bee health, colony mortality was related to: honey bee pathologies, environment (Naturality Index, plant protection products and heavy metal exposure), and apiary management. Anthropogenic pollutants and pathogens did not have significant effects on colony mortality while environment and the poor colony management skills of the beekeepers did.

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Published

2019-04-11

How to Cite

Bellucci, V., Lucci, S., Bianco, P., Ubaldi, A., Felicioli, A., Porrini, C., Mutinelli, F., Battisti, S., Spallucci, V., Cersini, A., Pietropaoli, M., & Formato, G. (2019). Monitoring honey bee healthin five natural protected areas in Italy. Veterinaria Italiana, 55(1), 15–25. https://doi.org/10.12834/1209.6739.4

Issue

Vol. 55 No. 1 (2019)

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Paper