Widespread pesticide-use and diminished floral diversity in the environment have contributed to the worsening susceptibility of honeybees to infectious disease, threatening their support of adequate pollination of food crops. With the aim of tackling honeybee decline, researchers at Western University have shown certain probiotic bacteria can be used to help ward off disease and promote overall hive health.
A new study published today in the journal ISME, used two methods to deliver probiotics to hives within large commercial apiaries in California – a probiotic pollen patty and a spray-based delivery system – demonstrating a range of health benefits associated with the supplementation.
“We tend to think of bees just as organisms in themselves. But actually, bees have co-evolved with a lot of other organisms, the plants they feed on, and the bacteria that live inside their guts,” said Graham Thompson, biology professor at Western who has been studying honeybees for over two decades. “Those bacteria are functionally very important to the bees, for digestion and acquiring nutrients. It’s a symbiotic arrangement.”
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Testing in a real-world setting
While the Western team has led research on three probiotic strains and shown they benefit honeybees, this latest research is the largest field study of its kind to date.
“Seeing an effect in the lab is one thing, but seeing it in the real world is quite another,” said Thompson. “After treating the hives with probiotics using a BioPatty and a novel topical spray, we monitored them for all kinds of downstream effects and found lasting effects in their ability to withstand a variety of very common diseases.”
The probiotics developed by the researchers are specifically designed to enhance the honeybee’s core gut microbiota to boost their immunity and provide a viable alternative to antibiotics.
“Right now, most beekeepers treat their hives with antibiotics to prevent infectious disease,” said Brendan Daisley, a former PhD student at Western and now a postdoctoral researcher at Western and the University of Guelph.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative side effects associated with treating hives with antibiotics, including development of resistance, and off-target health effects due to the drugs harming beneficial microbes, in addition to the pathogens of interest. We need different solutions to improve honeybee health, especially in a sustainable way, and we believe probiotics could be a feasible option.”
The researchers say part of the goal of testing the delivery methods of the probiotics is ensuring the research can be easily translated to the real world.
“A beekeeper has to go to the hive and be able to apply the probiotics, so we’re trying to make it easier for them to do that,” said Gregor Reid, professor emeritus at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and an international expert on probiotics. “We aim to make the solution practical, easy to use and proven to work, which is the essence of translational science. Not every bacterial strain works and even some commercial products have not been proven to be effective, so we can’t generalize. The key is selecting the right strains and proving they are effective in the real world.”
The team is working closely with SeedLabs to promote their research with major players in the beekeeping world.
Bee research on campus
The next phase of this research is continuing this summer on Western’s campus in the university’s experimental apiaries. Students Anna Chernyshova and Sophie Killam will be looking at how the probiotics influence the bees’ social behaviour, to understand what is referenced as the ‘gut-brain-axis’. In other words, how probiotic bacteria influence the brain.
“The idea is fascinating because it shows that the gut and the brain are actually communicating with each other through millions of bacteria releasing or inducing specific chemicals and neuro-compounds that influence the activity of the brain, including behaviour such as grooming or cleaning,” said Chernyshova, a PhD student in Biology. “Previously, this has only been studied at the individual level. And as we know, honeybees are social. So, we are looking to see if and how probiotic organisms can improve foraging and hygienic behaviour.”
The researchers are also comparing the hives treated with probiotics to those that have been treated with antibiotics to see which performs better. Using pollen traps, they can assess overall pollen production and determine which hives have bees that go to more diverse flowers.
Killam, a master’s student in Thompson’s lab, is looking specifically at how these manipulations of the bees’ gut microbiomes influence where worker bees detect and remove diseased brood from the hive. She’ll spend the summer alongside the bees using video, radio tags and other observations to monitor the insects’ behaviour.
“I’ve really enjoyed taking care of the colonies here and am excited to do the field work this summer,” said Killam. “Bees are both an economically and ecologically important insect, for plants, animals and humans. And because they live in these large and close-knit colonies close to humans and industry, they are susceptible to disease. Looking at how we can support their health and wellbeing through natural mechanisms is really important.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
