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A honey bee colony is a community of interacting organisms continually adjusting their behaviors, both individually and collectively, in response to even the subtlest changes in the environment. It’s only logical then, that the more significant changes and stressors due to climate change will push the colony to its limits, disrupting the delicate balance of the hive and threatening the survival of the colony.
Honey Bees and Climate Change: Surveying the Impacts and Proposing Solutions to Save Our Pollinators is the first and only book to examine the responses of honey bees to climate change and the threat it poses to their ability to thrive and survive. Drawing on systems science and the central theme that all outcomes are products of an interconnected system, the book will address how climate change is affecting honey bee nutrition, growth, and overwinter survival, which in turn threaten commercial beekeeping and crop production. Impacts on other pollinators will be touched on as well. Finally, potential mitigating strategies, key areas of action, and the future outlook will be covered.
Written by a leading scientist with over 40 years of experience studying honey bee physiology, nutrition, colony survival, and the impact of climate change on the colony,
Honey Bees and Climate Change is crucial reading for students and researchers studying honey bees, especially those with an interest in the impacts of climate change on pollinators. The inclusion of key terms and definitions as well as case studies make this work an excellent supplementary text for courses on honey bee biology, apiculture, pollinator conservation, or climate change ecology.
List of contents
1. All outcomes are products of systems
2. Honey bee colonies from a system science perspective
3. The system that produces pollination and fruit set
4. Colony as an organismal system that responds to the environment
5. Colony as a host for parasites and pathogens; the fusion of varroa and honey bee colony population dynamics
6. Climate change as the product of a system
7. Climate change effects on colony nutrition
8. Climate change effects on the annual colony cycle
9. Climate change effects on commercial beekeeping
10. Systems to generate solutions
11. Final thoughts: individual vs community in addressing climate change
About the author
Dr. Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman is a Research Leader and Location Coordinator at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center and an Adjunct Scientist in the Department of Entomology and Insect Science at the University of Arizona. Her main research areas include honey bee nutrition; varroa population dynamics and control; the effects of fungicides on queen development, worker physiology, and colony survival; and the impact of climate change on honey bee colonies. She is also trained in mathematical modeling and applies it to her work with honey bees.
