We will cover several topics that we hope will be of interest for the scientific and bee keeping community, including:
Varroa destructor in Europe has significantly impacted local honey bee populations, and systematic chemical control of the parasite has become the norm. Within the Better-B project we will further investigate the possibility of natural selection to select bees that can survive in the presence of Varroa.
Every bee in this world depends on flowers for their food. The availability and diversity of flower plants determine if and how a bee can collect its food. As part of the Better-B project we want to catalogue and map plants in Europe used by bees, and other pollinators, through observations collected citizen scientists.
Independently of honey bees, hive temperatures are governed by heat transfers with the surrounding air (convection) and the sun (radiation) etc. Experiments conducted as part of the Better-B project will explore the thermal characteristics of honey bee hives and determine novel ways to help bees maintain stable hive temperatures.
If you would like to learn more and be part of the discussions, please save the date and register your interest.
This event will take place in Wageningen, the Netherlands on Thursday 14 Nov 2024, right after the COLOSS conference (11-13 Nov 2024). It will be a hybrid event, and if you are not able to attend in person, we hope you will join us on-line. We will provide further details about joining, both in person and online later, but we would be grateful if you could indicate whether you plan to attend in person or online when registering.
In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the Better-B citizen science project please see the beeplants.eu website. Or if you are interested in hive designs for thermal regulation you can read more about our work in our Better-B newsletter.
The meeting will take place at the
Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant De Wageningsche Berg,
Generaal Foulkesweg 96,
6703 DS Wageningen.
From Schiphol airport, the train station is at the airport. You can take the train to Ede-Wageningen or Arnhem and from there take the bus to the hotel. The easiest option is to take the direct train from Schiphol (direction Nijmegen, every 30min), stop at Arnhem and then take the bus 352 direction Wageningen, stop at ‘Wageningsche Berg’.
Travelling by car, you can park your car for free at the Fletcher Hotel Restaurant De Wageningsche Berg.
The OVpay system allows to pay (and use as a ticket) your train or bus ticket using a debit or credit card (Maestro, Mastercard, VPAY and VISA) or phone (Google Pay/Apple Pay). Instead of paying with card or phone, you can also order an e-ticket using the NS app. Gates can be opened with the barcode on the e-ticket.
You do not need to book tickets for train or bus in advance. Please notice, if you want to travel using first class in the train, you need to buy a e-ticket.
Remember to always check out when stepping out of the station or the bus.
Better-B has received funding from the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant number 10068544).
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Research Executive Agency (REA), SERI or UKRI. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them.
