Report of the discussions on research needs
On 13 June 2014, the Belgian National Focal Point to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD NFP based at RBINS) and the Belgian Biodiversity Platform co-organised a scoping meeting on a project proposal aiming to develop a monitoring system using honey bees as indicators of health and the environment. This project proposal is part of a series of new measures to address the decline of pollinators.
During this meeting, the participants were split into two groups, one dealing with research needs; the other dealing with the monitoring aspects. The group dealing with research needs was asked to identify knowledge gaps and research needs to underpin a monitoring scheme using bees as a sentinel/indicator for the environment.
The report of the discussions on the research needs is now available and present the results under 3 sections:
- Research needs concerning bee colony health
- Research needs concerning stressors
- Research needs concerning contextual variables
These research needs were partly identified during the discussions on 13 June 2014 and under an e-consultation running from May 12th to May 30th 2014.
For additional information, please contact Dr Hilde Eggermont.