Trends in beekeeping and honey bee colony losses in Latin America

• Autores: Requier, Fabrice; Antúnez, Karina; Morales, Carolina L.; Aldea Sánchez, Patricia; Castilhos, Dayson; Garrido, Paula M.; Giacobino, Agostina; Reynaldi, Francisco J.; Rosso Londoño, Juan M.; Santos, Estela; Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
• Año de publicación: 2018
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Apis mellifera; Beekeeping; Citizen Science; Colony Losses; Honey; Monitoring; Solatina; South America
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Río Negro

Fil: Requier, Fabrice. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Andina; Argentina.
Fil: Antúnez, Karina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable; Uruguay.
Fil: Morales, Carolina L. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; Argentina.
Fil: Aldea Sánchez, Patricia. Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Mayor; Chile.
Fil: Castilhos, Dayson. Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Arido, Brasil.
Fil: Garrido, Paula M. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina.
Fil: Giacobino, Agostina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas e Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina.
Fil: Reynaldi, Francisco J. Universidad Nacional de La Plata y Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.
Fil: Rosso Londoño, Juan M. Reserva Natural Hacienda Agroecológica El Paraíso y Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas; Colombia.
Fil: Santos, Estela. Comisión Honoraria de Desarrollo Apícola; Uruguay.
Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Andina; Argentina.
Over the past decade, several countries have carried out monitoring programs of managed honey bee colonies, which suggest beekeeping difficulties, with high colony loss rates all over the world. Although Latin America plays a major role in the global honey supply, information about trends in beekeeping activities and honey bee colony losses are lacking. Using the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) dataset and a synthesis of unpublished data of colony losses survey carried out over the last 7 years, we reveal a worrying situation of the beekeeping in this region. The Latin American trends in honey production and beehive numbers are drifting from the global pattern, and several high colony loss rates were registered in this region. These results reveal the presence of beekeeping difficulties in Latin America. However, the variability in methods of colony loss survey across initiatives prevent proper conclusion on loss rates. Efforts are needed to adapt, centralize and standardize methods to monitor honey bee health and colony losses across countries in Latin America, the main objective of the “colony losses” working group at the Latin-American Society for Bee Research, SOLATINA, a large-scale platform created in 2017 to coordinate bee research programs in Latin America.