Imagine bees as a workforce that is currently burnt out by heat and chemicals. This work looks at 'wild' bees that survived on their own to find the secret genetic code for toughness. By copying these natural survival tricks and mapping where flowers actually grow, we can help beekeepers keep their colonies healthy.
Modern beekeeping practices have left colonies unable to survive extreme heat and pesticide exposure. This leads to colony collapse and reduced crop pollination efficiency.
A high-throughput screening tool for pesticide mutations and the BeePlantCalendar 2.0 for mapping floral resources.
If you are an industrial honey producer dealing with colony collapse due to heat waves — this project developed in-hive thermoregulation insights and Darwinian selection methods that improve bee survival rates.
If you are a pesticide manufacturer dealing with regulatory pressure regarding pollinator toxicity — this project developed a high throughput screening tool using 17 insecticide target sites to identify which bee populations are most resilient to chemicals.
If you are a farm management advisor dealing with poor crop pollination — this project developed the BeePlantCalendar 2.0 and floral resource models to predict a landscape's pollinator carrying capacity.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or implementation costs for the tools are not provided.
Yes, the project is creating European-wide coverage for floral resource models and has analyzed genome sequences from 54 countries.
Based on available project data, there is no specific mention of licensing terms or patent filings for the high throughput screening tool.
The project explores opting for Darwinian selection to mitigate stressors, but does not list specific regulatory constraints.
The project period runs until 2027-05-31, suggesting that final validated results will be available by that date.
The consortium is heavily research-oriented with 11 universities and 3 research institutes, but maintains a 17% industry ratio with 3 industrial partners. This structure suggests the project is focused on fundamental genetic and ecological discovery, though the inclusion of SMEs and industry partners indicates a path toward practical application in apiculture.
Contact Universiteit Gent regarding the BeePlantCalendar 2.0 and pollinator capacity models.
Contact us to bridge the gap between these genetic findings and your commercial breeding program.
