L’Irlande rassemble 24 000 ruches d’abeilles domestiques. La surmortalité des abeilles irlandaises est présente comme dans les autres pays européens. Le varroa en est une des causes principales.
Many honeybees have been imported by beekeepers from outside Ireland and are not native, although populations of the native Irish honeybee (the dark European honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera) do still exist here. Along with bumblebees, the honeybee is extremely important for maintaining Irish pollination services. Ireland has an estimated 24,000 bee hives and has not been exempt from global honeybee declines. In Ireland declines have been primarily caused by the varroa mite, which causes varroasis. Varroa mite was accidentally imported here in the late 1990s. It was first identified in Co Sligo, where beekeepers were paid to destroy their stocks by the Department of Agriculture. “Colony collapse disorder” is a phenomenon in which worker bees from hive abruptly disappear. It has been having a devastating effect on global honeybee populations, particularly in the US. The causes of colony collapse disorder are not fully understood but are proposed to include mites and diseases, malnutrition, pesticides and migratory bee keeping. There have been no reports to date of colony collapse disorder in Ireland.
Pour en savoir plus sur les abeilles en Irlande: http://pollinators.biodiversityireland.ie/bees/irelands-bees/why-are-irish-bees-declining/
Apiterra collabore avec l’INRA pour lutter contre le varroa: http://www.eurobeestock.com/rd-survie-de-labeille,fr,8,57.cfm
Repeuplement de ruchers avec des essaims sur cadres et paquets d’abeilles disponibles: www.eurobeestock.com
Les scientifiques allemands recherchent les causes d’une soudaine mortalité chez les abeilles.
Bayer CropScience annonçait mi-novembre l’acquisition d’un produit de contrôle du varroa destructor, un parasite des abeilles, développé par la société anglaise Exosect, spécialiste des solutions « intelligentes » de lutte contre les ravageurs.