Advanced in Honey Bee and Apitherapy

Dear Colleagues,

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is one of the most important pollinators for crop production. They also provide many high-value bee products around the world. Although the number of honeybee colonies has rapidly increased in the past few decades, honeybees continue to suffer as a result of serious environmental stress. This issue has brought to light a number of problems faced by apiculture:

1) The impacts of chemical residues or other environmental stresses on honeybees;

2) the pathogens and diseases of honeybees;

3) the decrease in pollinator populations and its impact on the quantity and diversity of the agriculture ecosystem in terms of impacts on humans;

and 4) the future of bee products and their benefit to humanity.

Fortunately, a wide range of studies have emerged aiming to further our understanding of the impact of environmental stress on apiculture. These studies have focused primarily on

1) the basic biology of honeybees;

2) the research of honeybee diseases and treatment strategies using surveillance and omics technologies;

3) the worldwide distribution and diversity of pollinators;

4) the development and functional assay of bee products

and 5) apitherapy.

As a team of honeybee researchers, we have organized the research topic “Advanced in Honey Bee and Apitherapy”, which welcomes suitable research related to honeybee biology (basic research), bee products and their impacts on human health, pollinator diversity, and honeybee diseases.

Topics of interest could include, but are not limited to:

General topics:

• Honeybee biology;
• Bee products;
• Apitherapy;
• Pollinator diversity;
• Honeybee diseases.

Specific Research Themes:

• Production of new knowledge in bee biology, pathology, apiculture practices, disease diagnosis and control;
• Biological response of individual honeybee and at the colony level;
• Honeybee products, their characteristics, and their possible use;
• New research approaches in the study of internal and external factors that distress honeybee biology, health, colonies management, and honeybee products’ quality and safety;
• Studies of pathogens, pesticides, environmental and technological issues, and their interactions associated with applying epizootiology.

Prof. Dr. En-Cheng Yang
Prof. Dr. Yue-Wen Chen
Dr. Chi-Chung Peng
Dr. I-Hsin Sung
Dr. Ming-Cheng Wu
Dr. Yu-Shin Nai
Prof. Dr. Aleš Gregorc
Topic Editors