2021-12-13 13:44:03
ANSES, and in particular the Sophia Antipolis laboratory, is recognized at national, European and international level for its expertise in bee health. Its research aims to better understand, detect and remedy the factors that can endanger the health of bees.
Poshbee, a European project on honey and wild bees
The agency participates in the European Poshbee project, in which it coordinates the section on the exposure of bees to chemicals and different pathogens. One of the current works aims to identify bee pathogens. “ The identification of pathogens is an activity well known by the Sophia Antipolis laboratory, explains Marie-Pierre Chauzat, coordinator of the component. What is new is that we are developing technology to identify and quantify more specifically and more quickly, or even simultaneously, eleven different pathogens, whether viruses, bacteria or parasites. This saves time and materials. » Another particularity is that the study does not only focus on the honey bee, the most commonly studied, but also on the bumblebee and the osmia, a solitary wild bee. “ We want to set up tests that are more representative of all pollinators and find out if the pathogens and parasites that affect honey-producing bees are also present in wild species. »
Using the bee level to measure exposure to pesticides
Another aspect of the Poshbee project is exposure to pesticides. On this theme, we can cite two works. The first aims to design passive samplers to directly measure the pesticides present in the hive. “ We joined forces with a team from the Oceanic and Continental Environments and Paleoenvironments (EPOC) mixed research unit, bringing together researchers from the CNRS and the University of Bordeaux. This team had already designed samplers to measure pesticides in outdoor ambient air. », Indicates Marie-Pierre Chauzat. First challenge: miniaturize the samplers enough to fit them into the hives. Second challenge: getting the bees to accept these tools, because these insects have an unfortunate tendency to coat any intruder with propolis, which makes the sampler unusable. Two models have been tested with beekeepers, the results are currently being analyzed.
Still to get as close as possible to the actual exposure of bees to pesticides, scientists have also developed a method to analyze the chemicals contained in the nectar collected by the bee. “ We know how to carry out analyzes in honey, but it is a product transformed by bees.explains Marie-Pierre Chauzat. Furthermore, not all pesticides are stored in the same way: some are hydrophobic and do not mix with honey, which contains a lot of water. » Likewise, we cannot deduce the level of exposure of bees from the quantity of pesticides spread nearby: bees will be more exposed if the treated crops are attractive, such as rapeseed. Analyzing the nectar brought back to the hive by the bees is therefore a more precise way of defining their level of exposure. The team therefore developed a method consisting of making the bees regurgitate nectar, as they would when returning to the colony, then carrying out reliable analyzes on samples of a few microliters.
Validated methods for detecting diseases
As a reference laboratory for bee health, the Sophia Antipolis laboratory also has the mission of developing and validating methods for identifying pathogens infecting bees. He published a study in the Journal of Economic Entomology on a new method for identifying the mite of the Tropilaelaps genus. There are four species of this genus, two of which parasitize the honey bee (Apis mellifera). « It is an exotic parasite which is not yet present in Europe but which might arrive in France, like the varroa a few decades ago. », explains Marie-Pierre Rivière, head of the bee pathology unit. Monitoring its presence in Europe is therefore essential, to be able to quickly put in place measures to prevent its spread. The method developed makes it possible to identify the species in one day. The laboratory has also developed a method, based on genome sequencing, to monitor the spread of an epidemic of American foulbrood, a bacterial disease fatal to bees.
The laboratory also guarantees the correct use of the methods and the reliability of the results of the official laboratories in charge of the analyses. It therefore regularly organizes inter-laboratory tests at the national and international level. One of them, on a method for diagnosing nosemosis, a parasitic disease of bees, was the subject of a publication in the Journal of Microbiological Methods. The test not only made it possible to harmonize the results between the national reference laboratories of the European Union, but also to confirm the very high reliability of the test, which is one of the tests recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (GOOSE).
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