Propolis: A Sticky Antimicrobial Secretion Helping Bees Fight Diseases

Bees amaze us with their incredible social organization. Even more fascinating is how bees maintain colony health. Bees have evolved a mutualistic relationship with plants that fulfill their nutritional requirements but also support their immune system function. As social insects, honey bees rely on their individual and social immune responses to fight pathogens inside and...

MONITOR, MONITOR, MONITOR!!!

By Renata Borba, Tech Transfer Program Lead When it comes to disease prevention and treatment, if you don’t know what you are fighting, you may be taking the wrong measures. It is very important to continuously monitor for diseases and manage them properly. The year of 2019 was a challenging year for most beekeepers in...

Nosema Ceranae and Lotmaria Passim, a dynamic duo

By Courtney Macinnis, Phd Student, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada And University Of Alberta Notorious Nosema ceranae – what is it and what does it do? Nosema ceranae is a highly specialized fungal parasite capable of causing disease in adult honey bees. Honey bees become infected with N. ceranae by ingesting spores of the parasite, which...