Present and future perspectives of using biological control agents against pests of honey bees

Martin Staron,Hossam F Abou-Shaara

doi:10.1186/s41938-019-0126-8

Martin Staron, Hossam F Abou-Shaara

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41938-019-0126-8

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Abstract

Honey bee, Apis mellifera L., is considered as an essential organism to the agricultural sector due to its role in pollination and alleviation of poverty in rural areas. Many pests attack honey bee colonies causing severe damages and economic losses. These pests include Varroa mites, Vespa hornets, wax moths, small hive beetles, and parasitic flies. Using chemical methods to control these pests causes some negative effects on honey bees and contaminates their products, while using biological control agents is promising and has no serious hazards. This article aimed to review available studies on the role of biological control agents mainly predators, parasitoids, and pathogens in controlling bee’s pests and to present new perspectives. Also, obstacles of using biocontrol agents inside and outside the hives were presented. This article is essential for planning integrated management programs for honey bee pests.

Highlights

Honey bee, Apis mellifera L., occurs worldwide, and it is the main pollinator of many plants (Corbet et al 1991 and Morse and Calderone 2000)
Conclusion and future perspectives Predators, parasitoids, and/or microbial biopesticides are available to pests of honey bees, except the parasitic flies
These biocontrol agents cannot be used alone to control the pests of honey bees, but they should be implemented in well planned integrated pest management programs

Summary

Introduction

Apis mellifera L., occurs worldwide, and it is the main pollinator of many plants (Corbet et al 1991 and Morse and Calderone 2000). Beekeeping is among the most important agricultural activities thanks to its role in providing many job opportunities at rural areas besides the valuable products of honey bees. These products include, honey, pollen, royal jelly, bee venom, beeswax, and propolis, and have many medicinal uses (e.g., De Castro 2001; Nagai and Inoue 2004 and Eteraf-Oskouei and Najafi 2013). The specific reasons behind the CCD are not fully known, but it mostly happens due to a number of harmful factors (van Engelsdorp et al 2009 and Neumann and Carreck 2010) Many pests such as Varroa mites, wax moths, small hive beetles, Vespa hornets, and parasitic flies attack honey bee colonies causing serious damages (Core et al 2012; Dietemann et al 2013; Ellis et al 2013; Monceau et al 2014; and Neumann et al 2016). Biocontrol agents are expected to manage the population of bee pests without causing harmful effects on honey bees and without contaminating valuable bee products

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Conclusion