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Bioindicators are of fundamental importance in environmental monitoring of contaminants produced and spread by men’s activities. Honeybees are cheap and3 flexible test organisms for passive biomonitoring and bioaccumulation of a large variety of pollutants. Bees can collect on their bodies or include in beehive products the chemicals diffused in the air, on plant surfaces, and dissolved in water allowing an effective screening of possible hazards for human and ecosystem health. We carried out monitoring activities on the environmental distribution of agrochemicals, heavy metals, radionuclides, and phytopathogenic organisms. We placed the “monitoring stations” in selected areas. These consist of a couple of beehives equipped with baskets to collect the dead bees, which are enumerated to evaluate the mortality and analyzed to identify the pollutants. Palynological analyses were combined with analytical results and data processing. Currently, monitoring plans are ongoing in different municipalities. The increasing interest in environmental protection has led us to develop the “BIOAPI-OER” (Open access Educational Resource) project, a short online, free access course on the theme of bees as environmental bioindicators. It targets different target groups such as scholars, Ph.D. students, beekeepers, and professionals interested in environmental biomonitoring.

The global range of the environmental quality issues we all face necessitates integrated action from all of the countries that suffer from a particular environmental issue. We must be able to obtain data on the presence of pollutants and their effects on biota from any territory, regardless of its environmental, infrastructural, social, and economic conditions. Biomonitoring utilizes organisms and natural materials to obtain this information. In particular, the honeybee is a ubiquitous, easy-to-breed organism with great mobility. Its body, which is covered with hairs, picks up materials and particulates that it encounters in the environment. Therefore, bees are highly effective accumulators of materials from the soil, vegetation, air, and water. These characteristics mean that the honeybee is both a bioindicator and a passive bioaccumulator organism, making it an ideal agent for easily monitoring vast areas inexpensively, even in regions where infrastructure is scarce. In this short review, we summarize the main targets of the honeybee-based monitoring campaigns that have been carried out to date, highlighting the results obtained in assessments of organic and inorganic pollution performed by coupling more modern technologies with this long-standing practice. It is hoped that this review will make scientists more aware of the incredible potential of these delicate organisms to provide data that could prove useful in the management of environmental issues.

One of the new objectives laid out by the European Union’s Common Agriculture Policy is increasing environmental sustainability. In this paper we compare the degree of average dependence index for each member state (ADIMS) in EU28 from 2007 to 2019 in order to verify the following: (1) whether there was a difference in this index when comparing two CAP periods—(a) from 2007 to 2013 and (b) from 2014 to 2019—and (2) which crops had a larger effect on the ADIMS. The study showed no significant variation in the average ADIMS at EU level between the first (2007–2013) and second (2014–2019) CAP periods. The AIDMS index highlighted three types of EU agriculture: (1) agriculture in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, characterized by a high level of ADIMS (10.7–22) due to the widespread cultivation of oil crops as rapeseed and sunflower; (2) Mediterranean agriculture including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and France with lower AIDMS levels (5.3–10.3) given their heterogeneous crop portfolios with different degrees of dependence on animal pollination (almond, soy, rapeseed, sunflower and tomatoes) and (3) continental agriculture including Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Baltic countries, Benelux, Finland, Sweden and Ireland, which are characterized by the lowest ADIMS level (0.7–10.6) due to the widespread cultivation of cereals (anemophily and self-pollination) which increase the denominator of the index. The study suggests that a sustainable management of the agroecosystem will be possible in the future only if CAP considers pollinators’ requirements by quantifying the timing and spatial food availability from cultivated and uncultivated areas.

Neonicotinoid insecticides have been signaled as an important driver of widespread declines in bee diversity and abundance. Neonicotinoids were registered in the 1990s and by 2010 accounted for one third of the global insecticide market. Following a moratorium in 2013, their use on open-field crops was completely banned in the EU in 2018. Pesticide regulation should be based on solid and updated scientific evidence, whereby products showing unacceptable effects on the environment are not approved. Clearly, pesticide regulation failed to detect the ecological threats posed by neonicotinoids. We argue that at the time neonicotinoids were authorized, risk assessment (RA) protocols were inadequate to detect some of the risks associated with neonicotinoid properties, including high efficacy, long persistence, high systemicity, high mobility, and application versatility. We advocate for the adoption of a more holistic RA approach that should account for: a) temporal and spatial dimensions of pesticide exposure; b) co-exposure to multiple compounds; c) differences among bee species with different life histories in levels of exposure and sensitivity; and d) sublethal effects (mostly ignored in current RA procedures). We also argue that regulatory studies conducted to support pesticide registration should be publicly available, and that pesticide regulation should not be discontinued once a product has been authorized. We should use the knowledge acquired through the neonicotinoid experience as an opportunity to profoundly revise bee RA schemes. These efforts should be initiated promptly; the neonicotinoid story has also taught us that the regulatory system is reluctant to react.

Nectar of honeybee colonies has been used in order to identify heavy metals and establish the benefit of this type of studies as a tool for environmental management. For these goals, samples of nectar were obtained from Apis mellifera hives placed in the city of Cordoba (Spain) and its surroundings. Five stations (each with two hives) were selected and samples were collected from May to July of 2007, 2009 and 2010. Concentrations of Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd in nectar were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Substantial spatial and temporal differences were detected and compared with the values found in bee bodies in a previously published study based on samples obtained simultaneously with those presented in this work. Upper reference thresholds established for this investigation were surpassed frequently by the measures obtained, being Cr (21.43% of samples), stations S3 (22.22%) and S4 (11.12%) year 2009 (22.22%) and the month of July (23.68%) the metal, the locations and the periods that exceeded more times these references. Regarding the Cd, which was studied only in 2010, 33.33% of the nectar samples exceeded the upper reference thresholds. Comparing the biomonitoring of bee bodies and nectar, some coincidences were found, although they showed different results for highest worrisome values of metal, station and year. This suggests that both methods can give complementary information in the surveillance systems of atmospheric pollution.

Several anthropogenic contaminants, including pesticides and heavy metals, can affect honey bee health. The effects of mixtures of heavy metals and pesticides are rarely studied in bees, even though bees are likely to be exposed to these contaminants in both agricultural and urban environments. In this study, the lethal toxicity of Cr alone and in combination with the neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin and the ergosterol-biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicide propiconazole was assessed in Apis mellifera adults. The LD 50 and lowest benchmark dose of Cr as Cr(NO 3 ) 3 , revealed a low acute oral toxicity on honey bee foragers (2049 and 379 mg L −1 , respectively) and the Cr retention ( i.e. bee ability to retain the heavy metal in the body) was generally low compared to other metals. A modified method based on the binomial proportion test was developed to analyse synergistic and antagonistic interactions between the three tested contaminants. The combination of an ecologically-relevant field concentration of chromium with clothianidin and propiconazole did not increase bee mortality. On the contrary, the presence of Cr in mixture with propiconazole elicited a slight antagonistic effect.

BACKGROUND Neonicotinoid insecticides have been identified as an important factor contributing to bee diversity declines. Nonetheless, uncertainties remain about their impact under field conditions. Most studies have been conducted on Apis mellifera and tested single compounds. However, in agricultural environments, bees are often exposed to multiple pesticides. We explore the synergistic mortality between a neonicotinoid (clothianidin) and an ergosterol-biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicide (propiconazole) in three bee species (A. mellifera, Bombus terrestris, Osmia bicornis) following oral exposure in the laboratory. RESULTS We developed a new approach based on the binomial proportion test to analyse synergistic interactions. We estimated uptake of clothianidin per foraging bout in honey bees foraging on seed-coated rapeseed fields. We found significant synergistic mortality in all three bee species exposed to non-lethal doses of propiconazole and their respective LD10 of clothianidin. Significant synergism was only found at the first assessment times in A. mellifera (4 and 24 h) and B. terrestris (4 h), but persisted throughout the experiment (96 h) in O. bicornis. O. bicornis was also the most sensitive species to clothianidin. CONCLUSION Our results underscore the importance to test pesticide combinations likely to occur in agricultural environments, and to include several bee species in environmental risk assessment schemes. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry

Gusts are particularly relevant to wind engineering and it is of interest to develop a forecasting tool for wind energy management for systems such as Uruguay’s, which has a wind power participation of 38% (UTE, 2019). In the present work, we assess the performance of two gust parameterizations (Gutierrez–Fovell and Nakamura et al.) utilizing Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations for predicting gusts at 100 ​m above ground level in the presence of convection. Convective activity is predicted when the vertically accumulated rain water mixing ratio computed by the model exceeds a selected value and is verified in part via satellite imagery (GOES-13). Gust forecast skill is evaluated with wind tower observations. We find a combination of the two parameterizations yields the highest forecast skill.

International audience; Modern agriculture often involves the use of pesticides to protect crops. These substances are harmful to target organisms (pests and pathogens). Nevertheless, they can also damage non-target animals, such as pollinators and entomophagous arthropods. It is obvious that the undesirable side effects of pesticides on the environment should be reduced to a minimum. Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) are very important organisms from an agricultural perspective and are vulnerable to pesticide-induced impacts. They contribute actively to the pollination of cultivated crops and wild vegetation, making food production possible. Of course, since Apis mellifera occupies the same ecological niche as many other species of pollinators, the loss of honey bees caused by environmental pollutants suggests that other insects may experience a similar outcome. Because pesticides can harm honey bees and other pollinators, it is important to register pesticides that are as selective as possible. In this manuscript, we describe a selection of methods used for studying pesticide toxicity/selectiveness towards Apis mellifera. These methods may be used in risk assessment schemes and in scientific research aimed to explain acute and chronic effects of any target compound on Apis mellifera.

Adult honey bees (Apis mellifera) usually maintain colony brood rearing temperature between 34-35°C by thermoregulation. The brood may, however, also be subjected to suboptimal temperature. Here weinvestigated whether a decrease of brood rearing temperature mayhave effects on larval mortality, adult emergence, longevity, morphology and susceptibility to poisoning by pesticides (dimethoate).Using the in vitrorearing protocol of Aupinel (2005), we were able for the first time to control the brood temperature not only during the pupalstage but also during the larval stage. Honey bee larvae were reared in vitroat 35°C (optimal) and 33°C (suboptimal) from 12 h after hatching for 15 days. Dimethoate was tested by ingestion either on 4-day old larvae or on 7-day old adults. Our results showed that lower rearing temperature had no significant effects on larval mortality and adult emergence, but adult bee mortality was strongly affected. Moreover, adult workers emerging at 33°C were significantly more susceptible to dimethoate. Larval LD50 (48 h) was, however, 28 times higher at33°C than at 35°C. The striking differences between larvae and adults may beexplained by differential larval metabolism at 33°C and resulting slower active ingredient absorption. We conclude that adult honey bees reared at even slightly suboptimal brood temperature may be more susceptible to pesticide poisoning and be characterised by reduced longevity. Thus, low temperature brood rearing could be another stress factor for colonies.

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.

International audience; AbstractPollen diet is essential to nurse bees to develop hypopharyngeal glands (HPGs) and produce royal jelly to feed larvae. The effect of different diet regimes combined with pesticide exposure on the development of HPGs in honeybees was studied. In particular, a high-quality pollen mixture (high pollen diversity and protein content) and a low-quality diet (low pollen diversity and protein content) were combined with the chronic administration of thiamethoxam (10 and 40 μg/L). The impact of these stressors was evaluated by measuring the size of HPG acini and the total protein content of bee heads in 8- and 12-day-old bees. Bees fed with sub-lethal concentrations of thiamethoxam and with the low-quality diet exhibited smaller and irregularly shaped acini. The total protein content in bee head was also affected by pesticide administration, while the pollen quality did not cause significant modifications. In conclusion, these results highlighted the importance of the food quality, considered as nutritional value and pesticide contamination, for the physiological development of honeybees.

In Italy a nation-wide monitoring network was established in 2009 in response to significant honey bee colony mortality reported during 2008. The network comprised of approximately 100 apiaries located across Italy. Colonies were sampled four times per year, in order to assess the health status and to collect samples for pathogen, chemical and pollen analyses. The prevalence of Nosema ceranae ranged, on average, from 47-69% in 2009 and from 30-60% in 2010, with strong seasonal variation. Virus prevalence was higher in 2010 than in 2009. The most widespread viruses were BQCV, DWV and SBV. The most frequent pesticides in all hive contents were organophosphates and pyrethroids such as coumaphos and tau-fluvalinate. Beeswax was the most frequently contaminated hive product, with 40% of samples positive and 13% having multiple residues, while 27% of bee-bread and 12% of honey bee samples were contaminated. Colony losses in 2009/10 were on average 19%, with no major differences between regions of Italy. In 2009, the presence of DWV in autumn was positively correlated with colony losses. Similarly, hive mortality was higher in BQCV infected colonies in the first and second visits of the year. In 2010, colony losses were significantly related to the presence of pesticides in honey bees during the second sampling period. Honey bee exposure to poisons in spring could have a negative impact at the colony level, contributing to increase colony mortality during the beekeeping season. In both 2009 and 2010, colony mortality rates were positively related to the percentage of agricultural land surrounding apiaries, supporting the importance of land use for honey bee health.

In this work, an operational solar energy forecast model was developed based in correction of irradatiation obtained from WRF output. This output depends on the Hourly Clearness Index (kt). Three different physic schemes of WRF parametrization are analyzed in this work. The horizontal irradiation computed by Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) is the input of the developed Model Output Statistic (MOS). Solar irradiation is converted from horizontal to tilted surface, and a final photo-voltaic solar energy plant coefficient is calibrated to obtain the minimal absolute error in the period of calibration.

It has been recently demonstrated that honeybees can be used to monitor the presence of Erwinia amylovora in the environment. The monitoring protocol involves setting up stations (consisting of three hives each) in infected areas, at the edges of infected areas, or in apparently non-infected areas. From 2000 to 2002, over 500 samples of pollen and honeybees were analysed for the fire blight pathogen by a new chemiluminescent PCR-ELISA rapid method. This monitoring programme demonstrated that honeybees can be an efficient and economic tool to detect the bacterium, even in the absence of symptoms. In fact, in several cases, E. amylovora was detected in samples from areas where no symptoms of fire blight had been observed. On the basis of results presented at the 9th International Workshop on Fire Blight, a study was carried out in 2002 to evaluate, under greenhouse conditions, the role of honeybees in the dissemination of E. amylovora from experimentally inoculated pear flowers and contaminated hives to healthy pear flowers and honeybee matrixes. Our results show that, after contamination, honeybees can act as carriers of live bacterial cells of E. amylovora for only 48 hours. After this period, no viable E. amylovora cells were found in non-inoculated pear flowers visited by insects, on honeybee bodies or intestines, or in any of the analysed beehive products (honey, pollen and wax). These and previous results provide useful data to establish prophylactic operating procedures to allow beehive movement in disease-free areas. The quarantine procedures mandate closing the hives and keeping them in a temperature controlled chamber (between 15 and 20°C) for 48 hours, or for 24 hours only if they have been treated with oxalic acid, which inhibits E. amylovora.

APOIDEA SL is a technology-based company in Cordoba University, Spain. It operates environmental quality control projects through the use of monitoring stations using Apis mellifera colonies and ot...

Due to features that make them outstanding environmental bioindicator, colonies of Apis mellifera are being used to study environmental pollution. The primary objective of this research was to use honeybee colonies to identify heavy metals and determine their utility for environmental management. Five stations each with two A. mellifera hives were strategically located in urban, industrial, agricultural and forested areas within the municipality of Córdoba (Spain), and foraging bees were collected from April to December in 2007, 2009 and 2010 to analyse spatial and temporal variation in Pb, Cr, Ni and Cd pollution. Metal concentrations, in milligram per kilogram of honeybee, were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Significant differences in concentrations were found among the various locations and periods. The highest number of values exceeding the upper reference thresholds proposed for this study (Pb, 0.7 mg/kg; Cr, 0.12 mg/kg; Ni, 0.3 mg/kg; and Cd, 0.1 mg/kg) was observed for Pb and Cr (6.25% respectively), station S4 (13.22%), year 2007 (20.83%) and in months of May and July (11.90% each). Regarding the Cd, which was analysed only in 2010, the highest number of values exceeding the upper reference thresholds was 40%. Biomonitoring with colonies of A. mellifera could contribute to improved surveillance and control systems for atmospheric pollution by integrating qualitative and quantitative assessments, thus facilitating prevention and readiness in the event of environmental crises.

In this paper we assessed, under laboratory conditions, the toxicity of an active substance on solitary bee larvae of Osmia cornuta (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). A field-realistic dose of the systemic insecticide spirotetramat was applied to the mass provisions. The insecticide’s effects on several life-cycle parameters were studied in males and females. Our results showed a significantly shorter post-emergence longevity in bees exposed to spirotetramat during the larval stage, compared to the control. The observed reduction in longevity was 18 and 15%, respectively, in males and females. Mortality rate and other biological traits (larval and spinning duration, emergence time, food/body conversion rate) did not show significant differences between the two treatments. The method described in this study can be used to test the effects of toxic substances (i.e. agrochemicals) on bees. Moreover, it can constitute a basis for the development of a standardised protocol in the first tier of the Environmental Risk Assessment for solitary bees.

Il declino degli impollinatori selvatici e, in particolare, la mortalita delle api domestiche registrata negli ultimi anni hanno messo in evidenza il fondamentale ruolo delle api e degli altri insetti pronubi nell’impollinazione delle piante. L’accertamento delle cause di questi fenomeni non e di facile realizzazione, perche i fattori implicati possono variare e combinarsi fra loro. L’esposizione ai pesticidi, insieme alle patologie, ai parassiti, alle pratiche apistiche e alle condizioni nutrizionali, agroambientali e climatiche contribuiscono, secondo la teoria del vaso traboccante (Fig. 11.1), a causare, in proporzioni differenti, l’indebolimento e il successivo collasso degli alveari. I pesticidi, in particolare gli insetticidi, oltre alle mortalita provocate da grossolani errori durante il loro impiego (interventi fitoiatrici eseguiti in fioritura, durante i flussi di melata, in presenza di vento, contaminazione della flora spontanea, ecc.), sono anche sospettati di abbassare, in dosi sub-letali, le difese immunitarie e di indurre alterazioni sul comportamento, sull’orientamento e sull’attivita sociale delle api [1, 2].

The aim of this study was to carry out biomonitoring with honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) to assess the presence of pesticides and heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead) in all of the ten nature reserves of the Marche Region (central–eastern Italy). The study was carried out during the spring and summer seasons when the honeybees were active, over 3 years (2008–2010). Twenty-two colonies of honeybees bred in hives were used. Samples of live and dead honeybees and of honey were collected from 11 sampling stations from May to October in each year. No pesticide pollution was found. Significant differences in heavy metal concentrations were found among years, months and sites, and in particular situations. The analysis reveals that high heavy-metal concentrations occurred exclusively in live honeybees. For the seasonal averages, the most detected heavy metal was chromium, which exceeded the threshold more often than for the other elements, followed by cadmium and lead; nickel never exceeded the threshold. The data are discussed with an evaluation of the natural and anthropic sources taken from the literature and from local situations that were likely to involve heavy metal pollution.

The value relations of lead, chromium, nickel and cadmium as detected by automatic monitoring devices and recoderd by chemical analysis from monthly samples of the honey, pollen and larvae of honey bees are reported and discussed. The experiment was conducted at Modena in 1989 using five monitoring stations deployed around the city, each consisting of two hives. No positive correlation between the values for the biological matrices and for the abiological data was found, although there appears to be a certain latency of the pollutant in the former as compared to the latter. In most cases the plotted trends of the data, especially for lead in honey, are overlapping.

During the 1st year 20 strategic sites evenly distributed in this area, have been chosen. Each station consisted of two hives equipped with Gary cages to evaluate the weekly mortality. The data (presented as bee-risk maps) pointed out a situation of medium-high risk for honey bee and this was re-confirmed during the 2nd year of study with 26 stations. The most frequently detected active ingredients in these 2 years were: Dithiocarbamates (97% of 46 analyzed dead-bee samples) which are nonlethal to them, Azinphos-methyl (57%) and Dimethoate (55%) in 1987; and the same active ingredients, in the same order or importance but at different percentages (83.3%, 66.7% and 46.7% respectively) were detected on 30 dead-bee samples analyzed in 1988. These active ingredients are the most widely sold chemicals throughout the Ferrara Province.

Samples of honey, pollen and honey bees have been collected in some regions of Italy after the Chernobyl accident, and subjected to gamma spectrometry in order to assess their possible use as markers of the radioactive environmental contamination. Pollen has resulted in the best indicator, since it reflects exactly the air contamination and therefore it is suitable for obtaining a map of fallout. Also bees can be used for the purpose, even if their collection is more difficult, whereas honey gives only an indication.

Antonella Cersini, Valter Bellucci, Stefano Lucci, Franco Mutinelli, Anna Granato, Claudio Porrini, Antonio Felicioli and Giovanni Formato Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana, Roma, Italy. ISPRA, Roma, Italy. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, NRL for beekeeping, Legnaro (PD), Italy. Universita di Bologna, DISTA, Bologna, Italy. Universita di Pisa, Facolta di Medicina Veterinaria, Pisa, Italy.

(2010). Honey bee colony losses in Italy. Journal of Apicultural Research: Vol. 49, Honey bee colony losses, pp. 119-120.

This paper presents melissopalynological investigations applied to air pollution studies. During this research honey produced in an urban environment was subjected to pollen analysis. Also, the honey was chemically analysed for studies using the bee as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni). In 1987–88, 96 samples from the cities of Modena and Reggio Emilia were examined. Palynological analysis under the microscope was complemented by direct observations of the environment, e.g. movements of honey-bees, phenology, plant distribution. Results of melissopalynological analysis proved the wide potential of bees as bioindicators. Moreover, these data supply useful information for the full interpretation of chemical analyses. In particular, it is possible to verify the correspondence between honey and monitored period to check if the sample was in fact produced in the previous month. It is also possible to correlate the honey and the monitored site, i.e., the preferential routes of bees. Finally, it is worthwhile pointing out the presence of the honeydew in the composition of the examined sample: this substance can act as a «trap» for airborne particles, increasing their concentration in honey.

The ovicidal action of fenoxycarb was tested on eggs of 2 different ages of Chrysoperla carnea Stephens. Embryonic eggs treated within 24 h of oviposition were most sensitive to fenoxycarb. Immersion of eggs in a “field dose” solution (0.075 mg/ml) resulted in an embryo mortality of greater than 50% and a concentration of 0.15 mg/ml resulted in a mortality of greater than 80%. A 20-min prolonged immersion at the field dose solution resulted in nearly 100% mortality. Treatment of eggs resulted in hatching larvae that had anomalous mortality. Larvae that hatched from treated eggs had abnormal pupation and metamorphosis. In conclusion, the non-neurotoxic carbamate fenoxycarb, a selective insect growth regulator, was toxic at a low dose to C. carnea, a relevant pest predator.

Viene descritta la figura di Giorgio Celli come divulgatore di entomologia e di ambiente, e le ripercussioni che il suo insegnamento ha avuto sull'esperienza dell'autrice come divulgatrice scientifica

Nessun abstract

Honey bee and colony mortality have been reported for several years in many countries as well as in Italy. In the last years this phenomenon has become increasingly serious, and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain honey bee and colony losses. These hypotheses relate to pests and diseases, pesticides, apicultural practices, climate change, electromagnetic fields, GMO crops, etc. Honey bee colony losses are being surveyed in several European countries, but these surveys are not sufficiently structured. Based on beekeepers’ reports, honey bee losses in Italy follow a clear seasonal pattern: a) during spring and summer colonies lose many foragers due to agrochemicals (bee losses); b) from late summer to winter, the impact of pests (including Varroa) and pathogens becomes more important (colony losses). To assess the extent and investigate the possible causes of honey bee and colony losses in Italy a national monitoring network needs to be established. Target apiaries will be distributed in selected sites (modules), ideally one per region, to cover the national territory. Each module, composed of five apiaries with ten non-migratory colonies each, will be chosen based on environmental characteristics with a distance to the center of the module of about 50 km. Colonies will be visually inspected four times a year (right after winter, spring, summer and just before winter). In each inspection several parameters of each colony will be considered— health and nutritional condition, number of bees and brood, and queen’s age. The person in charge of each module will input the information obtained in a real-time database available on the Internet. In addition, dead and live bees, as well as several beehive matrices (brood, pollen, wax) will be collected during each inspection for chemical, pollen and disease analyses. The information collected through this honey-bee monitoring network will provide a broad database from which to explore patterns of disease, toxic exposure and management practices that may be linked to the occurrence of honey bee and colony losses. APENET aims at providing an accurate assessment of the overall health condition of honey bees at the national level.