Bee Diversity and Current Status of Beekeeping in Thailand

Abstract

Traditional honey bee hunting and beekeeping are crucial to the economic and spiritual lives of Thais. Bee products such as honey, brood, and royal jelly are regarded as healthy foods and frequently used as traditional medicine. In this chapter, honey bee diversity in Thailand, traditional hunting, and beekeeping are described. The giant and dwarf honey bees are harvested by hunting, only the Asian cavity nesting honey bee (Apis cerana) is domesticated and maintained in the traditional hives for harvesting honey and other bee products. The introduced species, the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) are kept in the modern box hives. By sharing food sources and habitat, the honey bees have also shared parasites and diseases. The ectoparasitic mites (both Varroa destructor and Tropilaelaps mercedesae) were jumped from A. cerana and A. dorsata respectively to the A. mellifera. The parasitic mites have become widespread and serious cause of colony loss in Thailand. In addition, microbial diseases (e.g., bee viruses, and N. ceranae) also can be detected in both native and introduced honey bee species. Other factors contributing to honey bee declines are also described.