Latest news with #GraceMcCormack
Irish Independent
21-05-2025
- Science
- Irish Independent
How Ireland's wild honey bees are surviving without help – University of Galway leads EU Research
Once thought extinct in the wild, native Irish honey bees are showing remarkable resilience — now scientists from Galway are leading a Europe-wide study to understand how. University of Galway is leading an international research project to uncover how wild honey bee colonies survive and thrive in the wild across Europe. Once thought to be extinct in the wild, recent independent research has revealed that free-living honey bees exist in some parts of Europe, including Ireland, although much is still unknown about their ability to survive in the wild. The project, entitled FREE-B, seeks to tackle the knowledge gap by investigating the various factors that bolster survival of these colonies such as their environment, biology and behaviour. As part of the project, researchers from Ireland, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden will collaborate to explore the survival tactics of free-living honeybees. Teams from the five European countries will search for nest sites in collaboration with citizen scientists and the international coalition Honey Bee Watch, with a special focus on forested and remote areas. In addition to gathering information about the colonies, such as location, nest type, and density, they will also conduct regular monitoring of nests to track survival rates while analysing adaptation and diversity within various environments across the studied areas. Professor Grace McCormack of the School of Natural Sciences at University of Galway believes the outlook looks promising, saying: 'We have been monitoring free-living honey bee colonies across the island of Ireland since 2015 and have found excellent overwintering survival in this group. 'There is a high proportion of pure native Irish honey bee in the wild population and our research so far suggests that they do not have any higher levels of pests or diseases than managed colonies. Being well adapted to local conditions they may hold key secrets that could improve apiculture in Ireland. 'Indeed, many beekeepers already rely on wild colonies to bolster their beekeeping, particularly beekeepers who no longer use chemicals to treat for the parasitic varroa mite. 'We look forward to extending our research via FREE-B to investigate broader patterns of survival in this key group across different latitudes and climates, to diving deeper to understand what goes on in a wild nest throughout the season, and to sharing exciting research outputs with beekeepers.'
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Science
- Irish Independent
University of Galway leads Europe-wide research on survival tactics of wild honey bees
Once thought to be extinct in the wild, recent independent research has revealed that free-living honey bees exist in some parts of Europe, including Ireland, although much is still unknown about their ability to survive in the wild. The project, entitled FREE-B, seeks to tackle the knowledge gap by investigating the various factors that bolster survival of these colonies such as their environment, biology and behaviour. As part of the project, researchers from Ireland, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden will collaborate to explore the survival tactics of free-living honeybees. Teams from the five European countries will search for nest sites in collaboration with citizen scientists and the international coalition Honey Bee Watch, with a special focus on forested and remote areas. In addition to gathering information about the colonies, such as location, nest type, and density, they will also conduct regular monitoring of nests to track survival rates while analysing adaptation and diversity within various environments across the studied areas. Professor Grace McCormack of the School of Natural Sciences at University of Galway believes the outlook looks promising, saying: 'We have been monitoring free-living honey bee colonies across the island of Ireland since 2015 and have found excellent overwintering survival in this group. 'There is a high proportion of pure native Irish honey bee in the wild population and our research so far suggests that they do not have any higher levels of pests or diseases than managed colonies. Being well adapted to local conditions they may hold key secrets that could improve apiculture in Ireland. 'Indeed, many beekeepers already rely on wild colonies to bolster their beekeeping, particularly beekeepers who no longer use chemicals to treat for the parasitic varroa mite. 'We look forward to extending our research via FREE-B to investigate broader patterns of survival in this key group across different latitudes and climates, to diving deeper to understand what goes on in a wild nest throughout the season, and to sharing exciting research outputs with beekeepers.'
RTÉ News
20-05-2025
- Science
- RTÉ News
Irish scientists leading international wild honey bee research
An international research project led by Irish scientists has been launched to investigate the wild honey bee. The wild honey bee was once thought to be extinct, however recent research has found they are still surviving and thriving in some parts of Europe, including in Ireland. FREE-B, a new research project between Ireland, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden has been established to explore the free-living honey bees and find out how they have formed stable populations in the wild. Professor Grace McCormack, head of the School of Natural Sciences at University of Galway and project coordinator of the FREE-B research project, said that Ireland has been studying the wild honey bee since 2015 and is therefore well ahead of other countries in understanding the bee. So far, more than 700 wild honey bee colonies have been identified on the island of Ireland. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Prof McCormack said the colonies they have found have excellent overwintering survival. FREE-B is seeking to understand how the bee was able to survive while a parasitic varroa mite is decimating farmed honey bee populations. The varroa mite was introduced to Europe via imported bees for farming purposes. Prof McCormack said scientists do not yet know why the native Irish wild honey bee is able to live with the mite. "There is a high proportion of pure native Irish honey bee in the wild population and our research so far suggests that they do not have any higher levels of pests or diseases than managed colonies," she said. These bees, Prof McCormack said "may hold key secrets" that Irish beekeepers could use to improve their beekeeping. There are very few intensive bee farmers in Ireland. Most are small-scale or hobbyists. PhD student Mick Verspuij began to get interested in bees in 2013, when, as an organic farmer, he was looking to increase his yields as more than 70% of his crops required pollination by bees. Over a decade later, he manages nearly 300 free-living colonies in and around Buncrana in Donegal. This means that the bee hives are in natural cavities such as holes in trees, called log hives, rather than in boxes designed to farm bees. "This particular species, the native Irish honey bee species, it's been identified as absolutely unique to the rest of Europe," Mr Verspuij said. "It's a locally adapted species like and obviously for that reason we should actually protect our heritage. "We should actually do our best to protect species and its habitat." As well as teams from the five European countries, other teams will search for the bee colonies with the help of citizen scientists and, in Ireland's case, rangers with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Agriland
20-05-2025
- Science
- Agriland
New project investigates survival of wild honey bees
An international research project has been launched to uncover how wild honey bee colonies survive and thrive in the wild across Europe's diverse landscapes. The project is being announced to mark World Bee Day today (Tuesday, May 20), highlighting the importance of wild bees and their role in biodiversity. Led by University of Galway, with support from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the FREE-B project is aimed at safeguarding honey bee biodiversity, improving resilience and driving transformative change in beekeeping, by bringing together researchers from Ireland, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden to explore the survival tactics of free-living honey bees. Once thought to be extinct in the wild, recent independent research has revealed that free-living honey bees exist in some parts of Europe, including Ireland. However, how they are able to survive in the wild and whether they can form a stable populations in remote forests remains largely unknown. Research project on wild honey bees FREE-B seeks to address the knowledge gap by investigating the biological, behavioural, and environmental factors that bolster survival of these colonies. Prof. Grace McCormack, School of Natural Sciences, University of Galway, said: 'We have been monitoring free-living honey bee colonies across the island of Ireland since 2015 and have found excellent overwintering survival in this group. 'There is a high proportion of pure native Irish honey bee in the wild population and our research so far suggests that they do not have any higher levels of pests or diseases than managed colonies. 'Being well adapted to local conditions they may hold key secrets that could improve apiculture in Ireland. Indeed, many beekeepers already rely on wild colonies to bolster their beekeeping, particularly beekeepers who no longer use chemicals to treat for the parasitic varroa mite,' she added. The research team plans to extend the research via FREE-B to investigate broader patterns of survival in this group across different latitudes and climates. Wild native Irish honeybee They also want to dive deeper to understand what goes on in a wild nest throughout the season, in order to share research outputs with beekeepers. Across Europe Teams from the five European countries will search for nest sites in collaboration with citizen scientists and the international coalition Honey Bee Watch, with a special focus on forested and remote areas. In addition to gathering information about the colonies, such as location, nest type, and density, they will also conduct regular monitoring of nests to track survival rates. Researchers will then assess landscape effects on colony survival and analyse genetic and morphologic data to evaluate diversity and adaptation to varying environments from Portugal to Sweden. In addition, pest and pathogen loads will be compared to those found in managed hives to better understand if wild populations better tolerate or resist disease, while investigations of pollen usage will determine if wild colonies utilise different forage compared to managed colonies. In Ireland and Poland, FREE-B will pilot the potential harnessing of free-living honey bee colonies to produce locally-resilient honey bee stocks by testing whether swarms collected from these colonies can be successfully managed in treatment-free apiaries. The team will measure various factors to assess their viability for future beekeeping, including disease, over winter survival, and honey production. Project director of Honey Bee Watch, Steve Rogenstein said: 'What excites us most is that, with Biodiversa's support of FREE-B, some of Europe's leading researchers of free-living honey bees, from Iberia to Scandinavia and spanning western and eastern Europe too, are coming together to extensively collect and analyse data collaboratively and from a multidisciplinary perspective. 'We hope that this international effort will provide insights as to how and why wild populations survive, and that any nature-based solutions that we collectively devise and implement will benefit both the bees as well as beekeepers in the five participating countries and beyond.' FREE-B is a collaboration between researchers at University of Galway; Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland; Polytechnic Institute of Braganca, Portugal; IRD, University Paris-Saclay, France; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Swenen, and Honey Bee Watch, Ireland. Findings from the project will be shared with a wide range of stakeholders including beekeepers, policymakers, veterinarians and foresters, who may have direct or indirect effects on the well-being of these bee populations. Researchers will also share insights with beekeepers to help reduce mortality rates and improve sustainability in beekeeping.
