Special Issue on
Honey Bee Colony Losses: Global Trends, Potential
Mechanisms, and Consequences
Among pollinators, only the honey bee can be managed
at a scale that is commensurate with the geographic scale
and plant densities of commercial-scale agriculture. Recent
research focused on honey bee ecology, behavior, physiology,
genetic diversity, toxicology, pathology, and colony management
has led to hypotheses about causes and solutions to
the continuing problem of colony losses. However, candidate
causes and their explanations are not congruent across
the research community or countries where honey bees
are managed for pollination or honey production and
ongoing discussion is needed to synthesize and understand
this complicated evidential base. We invite contributors to
submit original research articles as well as review articles that
will help move this discussion forward. Of specific interest
are articles describing historical trends in losses worldwide,
particularly as they attempt to segregate out patterns and
reasons for trends across space and time; epidemiological
studies that document the association between loss rates and
causal factors; and solutions to mitigation of these losses.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
• Causal analysis of honey bee colony losses
• Genetic basis of individual and colony-level resistance
to disease
• Etiology, epidemiology, and host responses to Nosema
spp., parasitic mites, and viruses, especially when
the dynamics of interacting disease causing agents or
abiotic factors are a focus
• Role of pesticides in acute and chronic responses in the
honey bee at the individual and colony level
• Unanticipated effects of honey bee decline and native
pollinators on pollination
• RNAi technologies, polyandry, and novel medications
targeted at pathogens and parasites
• Best management plans and/or regulations for protecting
colony health
• Philosophy and practical discussions of research
questions and experimental designs to address
geographical-scale investigations
• Sociological and economic treatise on honey bee
colony losses, pollination, and global food production
Before submission authors should carefully read over
the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/psyche/guidelines/.
Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their
Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their
complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript
Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/author/submit/
journals/psyche/hbc/ according to the following timetable:
Manuscript Due Friday, 12 April 2013
First Round of Reviews Friday, 5 July 2013
Publication Date Friday, 30 August 2013
Lead Guest Editor
Frank Drummond, School of Biology and Ecology,
University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA;
frank_drummond@umit.maine.edu
Guest Editors
Keith Delaplane, Department of Entomology, The
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA; ksd@uga.edu
Robert Paxton, Department of Zoology, Martin Luther
University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany;
robert.paxton@zoologie.uni-halle.de
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com/
