Assessing How Propolis Composition Affects Honey Bee Health

About the Project

Honey bees are the most important pollinators globally in terms of the diversity and abundance of plants they pollinate. They also pollinate wild plants and produce honey, wax and other bee products. However, bees are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic and pathogen pressures, which intensify rates of colony loss, with implications for beekeepers, farmers and consumers.

As well as collecting pollen and nectar, honey bees also collect sticky exudates and resins from plants, which they mix with saliva and beeswax to form propolis. Depending on the plant species and other factors, this varies in chemical composition, and often has antimicrobial properties. It is unknown whether the microbial communities present in different beehives mirror variations in propolis composition/concentrations of known anti-infective chemical class, and whether bees collect substances from particular plants to self-medicate.

This multidisciplinary project which involves working with beekeepers, using molecular and microbiological techniques as well as analytical chemistry aims to:

1. Determine how propolis composition in a hive is affected by time and location.
2. Assess whether differences in propolis composition are associated with differences in pathogen presence and load in a colony.
3. Assess the ability of chemicals purified from propolis to combat bee pathogens in vitro.

Supervisors

Dr Godwin Ebiloma

Dr Laura Brettell