Description
Honeybees are an essential part of farming and the wider ecosystem. Since the middle of the 1990s bee populations around the world have suffered dramatic decline through diseases, intoxication, and unknown causes. Veterinarians have had little training in bee health but as the situation continues, qualified animal health professionals and, in particular, veterinarians are being required to become involved as new dangers threaten honeybee health everywhere because of global apiculture trade and exchanges of honeybees, products of the hive and beekeeping material such as Aethina tumida (the small hive beetle – a beekeeping pest) introduced in Italy in 2014 or the mite Tropilaelaps spp (parasitic mites of honeybees).
This book will provide an overview of bee biology, the bee in the wider environment, intoxication, bee diseases, bee parasites (with a large part dedicated to the mite Varroa destructor) pests, enemies, and veterinary treatment and actions relating to honeybee health. The book will also cover current topics such as climate change, crop pollination, use of phytosanitary products, antibiotic resistance, and Colony Collapse Disorder.
While aimed at veterinary practitioners, students and veterinarians involved in apiculture and bee health (officials, researchers, laboratory veterinarians, biologists…), the book can also be beneficial to beekeepers, beekeeping stakeholders, animal health and environmental organisations.
Nicolas Vidal-Naquet, DVM, graduated in apiculture and Honeybee medicine, is a veterinary practitioner and lecturer in Honeybee biology and diseases at the Veterinary School of Alfort, France.
Alex Ellis (Bee Farmer) –
This book is an up-to-date, concise yet comprehensive reference…one of the best I have come across on this subject.
While aimed at those in the veterinary sector, it is also of interest to all those who manage bees. The book covers the biology of the honey bee from the individual to the super-organism, environmental problems and intoxication, viruses and viral diseases, bacterial diseases, parasitic diseases, fungal and protozoan diseases, pests, principles of hygienic beekeeping practice, and veterinary medicine practice.
JAVMA Review –
‘From its opening chapters on the biology of Apis mellifera L, to comprehensive coverage of environmental intoxication; viral, bacterial, and parasitic diseases; pests and enemies of honeybee colonies; and colony collapse disorder, this book provides a 1-stop reference for veterinarians who may want to delve into a new practice area. It is exhaustively referenced and packed with numerous detailed photographs (many taken by the author) and clear diagrams, charts, and tables. The appendices are especially valuable and cover topics such as reference values for and typical features of honeybee colonies, diseases notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and European animal health regulatory authorities, and sampling values for chemicals and diagnosis of pathogenic agents as well as a veterinary beekeeping sanitary audit guide… In short, this book is an outstanding resource for veterinarians with and without previous exposure to honeybee medicine.’ – Reviewed by Donald E. Hoenig, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Bulletin of the OIE Review –
‘While aimed at veterinary practitioners, students and veterinarians involved in apiculture and bee health (officials, researchers, laboratory veterinarians, biologists…), the book can also be beneficial to beekeepers, beekeeping stakeholders, animal health and environmental organisations.’ – Bulletin of the OIE