{"id":100972,"date":"2025-06-16T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/applied-ecology\/news\/fortifying-the-future-for-bees\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T15:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:50:18","slug":"fortifying-the-future-for-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/applied-ecology\/news\/fortifying-the-future-for-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Fortifying the Future for Bees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

North Carolina has one of the most diverse bee faunas east of the Rockies, and its largest university, NC State, is a national leader for pollinator research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRaleigh is a Bee City USA<\/a>, and NC State is a Bee Campus USA<\/a>,\u201d Applied Ecology Associate Professor Elsa Youngsteadt says. \u201cWe\u2019re located in an area that specifically acknowledges and cares about this group of animals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, North Carolina agriculture and agribusiness generates more than $100 billion annually<\/a> in economic impact. Honey bees alone pollinate $15 billion<\/a> worth of fruits, vegetables and nuts in the United States every year. Bees are also essential for productive ecosystems, supporting a multitude of plants and animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently over 50 active research projects between the three bee laboratories in the Department of Applied Ecology<\/a>. Researchers are studying the health of bees, from their microbiome to the landscapes they inhabit, all aiming to generate more buzz and healthier hives for these much needed pollinators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health of the Hive<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

University Scholar Professor David Tarpy<\/a> is driven by his fascination with social insects, specifically honey bees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe complex behavioral tapestry that social insects afford researchers is what interests me most, and how other biological disciplines such as genetics and genomics, chemical ecology, pathogen dynamics, foraging biology and evolutionary ecology are integrated into the same fascinating system,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigating honey bee health is more important than ever. On average, beekeepers lose 40% of their colonies<\/a> each year. Repeatedly building back lost colonies is expensive and has implications for agricultural industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like us, honey bees sometimes take medications to improve their health. Powdered antibiotics are administered to colonies and transferred to larvae through social behaviors such as grooming and feeding. However, the treatment protocols need improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are using a fluorescent dye system to investigate the transfer of surface-supplied antibiotic throughout honey bee colonies,\u201d says Bradley Metz, research scholar in the Tarpy Lab. This research will help assess the effective dosing and variation in exposure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"a
Bradley Metz studies a honey bee under the microscope in the NC State apiculture lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"a
David Tarpy conducts a hive inspection for a group of undergraduate student researchers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Undergraduate student researchers inspect honey bee frames.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Another current project focuses on queen bees, the sole reproductive female for a colony. To better understand how the unique microbiome of honey bee queens affects their health, productivity and reproductive quality, Tarpy and his colleagues manipulate queen rearing conditions. \u201cWe can determine how this translates to the community of beneficial microbes in their guts and overall colony health,\u201d Tarpy says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe science in and of itself is incredibly fun,\u201d Metz shares. \u201cOur day-to-day work involves an extremely varied and sometimes improvised set of skills and tasks that leads from highly technical to highly physical and everything in between.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides benefiting bees, honey bee research in the Tarpy Lab provides hands-on research experience for undergraduate students. \u201cThe NC State Apiculture<\/a> program doesn\u2019t exist without student researchers,\u201d Metz says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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