The Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera) is an important species, not only ecologically and economically, but as a source of recreation to many. The pollination services the species provides benefit a number of crops worldwide, and, as the honeybee is domesticated and kept in hives, can be directed commercially. Recently, although overall global stocks are growing, there have been reports of high colony losses worldwide. Due to the value of this species, this is a worrying trend. There are many stressors facing the honeybee, both natural and anthropogenic in origin. Two of the most prevalent, both in the popular media and in monitoring studies of colonies are insecticidal pesticides and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Due to the difficulties and expense of carrying out large-scale field studies required to properly investigate the multiple stressors and their interaction, the use of modelling to explore the problem and direct field work is a vital resource. In this thesis, I present research using the BEEHAVE model and a novel model to explore the exposure and potential impacts of pesticides and the varroa mite. The results show that the timing of a pesticide exposure in the year greatly changes the resultant impact on the colony. Pesticides can have many impacts on different stages of the honeybee, and I show that increased mortalities of different life stages of the honeybee (larvae, in-hive adults, foragers) and decreasing egg-laying rate, affect the development of the colony to different extents at different times of the year, with the colony being highly sensitive to losses of in-hive bees during the summer, and the over-wintering bees at the beginning and end of the year. A novel model is presented exploring the in-hive distribution of pesticide-containing nectar and the effect it has on the exposure of in-hive receiving bees and larvae. The results from this model show that, in-hive distribution is not important to consider for the adults, but may be for the larvae. The landscape, specifically the distance to pesticide-treated forage in relation to untreated forage also has an impact on the result of a pesticide exposure, and this is a potential avenue for the mitigation of pesticide impacts. I also present work towards the validation of BEEHAVE with regards to varroa mite infestation, finding that the model results are close to empirical data, both for datasets from the UK and USA, but the impact of varroa is underestimated. The results are discussed in the context of pesticide risk assessment, the mitigation of potential stressors and the modelling of the varroa mite. The BEEHAVE model is a vital tool for many applications, one being the risk assessment of pesticides. A review of the model by the European Food Security Agency (EFSA) highlighted extensions to the model required before it can be incorporated. This research begins to answer some questions asked in that review.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:716748 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Rumkee, Jack Charles Oliver |
| Contributors | Osborne, Juliet |
| Publisher | University of Exeter |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/27654 |
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