A new Bee Research and Extension Lab launched today at Southern Cross University. It will undertake critical honey bee research and extension, with a focus on managing the devastating Varroa destructor mite.
Despite the largest biosecurity response in Australia’s history, Varroa continues to pose one of the biggest threats to Australia’s beekeeping and pollination-dependent industries. Around one third of our food comes from crops pollinated by bees.
“Varroa is the leading cause of colony losses globally, and our bees in Australia are naive to this pest. We have 35 pollination-dependant crops in Australia that need healthy honey bees for viable pollination,” said Director of the new Bee Research and Extension Lab, Dr Cooper Schouten.
“The majority of our bee labs in Australian universities have been closing down as their leaders, among many technical experts in the industry, have retired. We urgently need more capacity.
“At Southern Cross University we are seeking to fill part of that void by developing new research to support local beekeepers, and ensure our food security.”
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Cooper Schouten: So the Bee Research and Extension Lab at SCU is trying to grow capacity for the sector, both in extension and teaching and in research, and grow a community of practice to breed better bees that are healthier and productive in the face of varroa. One of the main reasons is that we’ve got a new incursion of varroa mite in this country, so it’s the leading cause of colony losses globally.
But when you look at the research in other countries, for example, America and New Zealand, they lost 50 to 60 percent of their registered businesses. beekeeping businesses within about four years. So we don’t want that to happen in Australia. We’ve got 40 years of research and experience from other countries that we can draw upon.
We have very unique climate, agriculture and beekeeping industry here and we need to do some really practical and applied research and extension to try to address some of those problems and ensure that we’ve got a lot of beekeeping businesses in business. Obviously, there’s lots of different ways to be able to control these varroa mites, from prevention to mechanical controls, cultural controls, biological controls, prevention, synthetic chemicals, but a really important mechanism is through breeding bees.
So just like any other type of livestock, bees can be bred for lots of different important characteristics like their temperament, their colour, their honey production, and one of the traits is varroa tolerance. From an international perspective, We have very unique conditions here in Australia, and understanding research for varroa control and other biosecurity implications of that in tropical and subtropical climates is something that a lot of other countries need.
Pete Wilkins: I love working with bees. I’m excited about teaching people and fuelling their love of bees as well and inspiring them to become beekeepers. There’s a dearth of young people getting into the bee industry and I’d like to see that really take off. So I’m really inspired about working with bees all day and helping people work with bees themselves.
So the role of the Bee Club, Generally, the way I see it is for people that are really interested in bees, but maybe they can’t have a hive at their house, or they do have a hive, but they don’t necessarily know deeper methods. For instance, something like queen breeding, or just generally, beekeeping is quite a deep topic.
It’s a hobby when you start getting into it. And so it’s for people to kind of learn and be able to play with bees where they may not necessarily be able to at their own place. And it’s also a place for people to engage with one another and it’s a social club where people can come and just talk bees.
Because bee nerds just love talking bees all day.
A priority for the new Bee Lab will be undertaking applied research on more affordable Varroa controls, developing practical guides with beekeepers and working with queen bee breeders to develop more Varroa-tolerant queen bees for Australian conditions.
“We have decades of Varroa research and industry experience we can draw on from other countries, yet Australia has unique climate, biodiversity and agricultural systems.
“To protect against Varroa, beekeepers will need to invest significant time and resources to monitor, manage and replace colonies, and we can work with them to develop and communicate the latest research about how to do that and remain profitable.”
If left unchecked, the parasitic Varroa mite can devastate bee populations, feeding on pupae and adult bees, spreading viruses, crippling bees’ ability to fly, orientate and communicate and eventually causing hive collapse.
The potential impact of Varroa – between lost income and the additional expenses of intervention for beekeepers – has been estimated at up to AUD1.31billion over the next 30 years by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).
The beekeeping industry also faces challenges such as low honey prices, high operational costs, declining access to floral resources, difficulty finding skilled staff and other major biosecurity threats like Tropilaelaps mites and bee viruses (e.g. Deformed wing virus).
As the leader of numerous beekeeping projects in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji, Dr Schouten has seen first hand the barriers and solutions to beekeeping industry development, as well as the benefits of collaboration.
“The Bee Lab seeks to develop a community of practice, so that our industry has more opportunities to learn from one another; from commercial beekeepers, extension agents and researchers; together we can have the widest reach and benefit from the range of input such a community can provide,” he said.
Professor Mary Spongberg said she was delighted to see the new lab begin to take shape.
“This is critical work and it has national and also global significance. At Southern Cross University we are solutions-focused, bringing industry along with us to ensure better outcomes for local beekeepers, but also research that has global impact.”
The new Bee Lab builds on a decade of research and extension work by the (B4SL) research group at the University. Funded by Southern Cross and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), B4SL has driven projects to increase the profitability and resilience of beekeeping industries and businesses across the Indo-Pacific region.
