Results of an International Survey for Risk Assessment of Honey Bee Health Concerning Varroa Management

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is well written. The information collected result interesting, however, only 861 results from a worldwide survey result not representative,. Moreover, the results came , almost all, from Europe ( 20,9%) and America (74,7%) What happend with Australia and China ? This countries are important in honeybee production around the world. Another particularly situation is related to the responders of the surveys, most of them are selfconsumers, so that this type of producres do not representate honey production. 

This  study represent a partial survey of honeybee producers.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your efforts in commenting our manuscript.

Here follow our answers to your comments:

1) The manuscript is well written. The information collected result interesting, however, only 861 results from a worldwide survey result not representative.

Answer: Thank you for your considerations and suggestions. We are aware about the limited amount of inquiries, but they can still show data (even if on a small scale), concerning the opinions of the users that took the surveys. To reach as many beekeepers as possible, we did what was in our capacity to collect as much questionnaires as possible. The survey was promoted in: an article on Bee Culture Magazine, through social media and by multiple affiliated parties. Among those parties: the beekeeping association APIMONDIA, bee research groups, FAO, CARE, and TECA partners, including La Federación Internacional Latinoamericana de Apicultura (FILAPI) and the Beekeeping Network North-South (BNNS). 

2) Moreover, the results came , almost all, from Europe ( 20,9%) and America (74,7%) What happend with Australia and China ? This countries are important in honeybee production around the world. 

Answer: Concerning the apiculture in both Australia and China, even if these continents are important in honeybee production around the world, in this study, there was a low participation from each the continents (1% in Asia and 0,9% in Oceania). For this reason, we analyzed and reported in the paper the mean data comparisons between the two continents which provided more answers: the Americas and Europe. 

3) Another particularly situation is related to the responders of the surveys, most of them are selfconsumers, so that this type of producres do not representate honey production. This  study represent a partial survey of honeybee producers.

Answer:  Regarding the responders of this surveys, a high percentage of beekeepers in each of the continents, (85.6%) in the Americas and (83.9%) in Europe declared themselves as hobby beekeepers, rather than professionals. Even if this is a samples on small scale, it seems to reflect the general apiculture situation.

Please, see: https://epthinktank.eu/2017/10/24/the-eus-beekeeping-sector/

 

We remain available for any question, if needed.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Giovanni Formato and beside Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

"Results of an International Survey for risk assessment of honey bee health concerning varroa management" is a detailed survey-based work carried out by the authors. However, the survey is primarily based on respondents from the Americas and Europe. Participation in other parts of the world is absent. In the survey, the majority of the beekeepers (not professionals) could not migrate their hives. Whether is there any relation between beehive migration and varroa mites infection? Whether varroa mite infection is related to seasons? Such kinds of questionnaires may be included in future studies.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your revision.

Here follow our answers to your comments:

1) "Results of an International Survey for risk assessment of honey bee health concerning varroa management" is a detailed survey-based work carried out by the authors. However, the survey is primarily based on respondents from the Americas and Europe. Participation in other parts of the world is absent. In the survey, the majority of the beekeepers (not professionals) could not migrate their hives. Whether is there any relation between beehive migration and varroa mites infection? Whether varroa mite infection is related to seasons? Such kinds of questionnaires may be included in future studies.

Answer: Thank you for your considerations and suggestions. Regarding the relationship between hive migration and Varroa mite infection, re-infestation depends on the level of infestation of colonies in the same or neighbouring apiaries. However, our study investigated the techniques adopted to collect and compare information concerning Varroa mite, with the aim of validating a tool (surveys) useful to investigate beekeeping management measures.
While, concerning the relationship between Varroa infestation level and seasonality, this was not investigated in our study. However, it might be of interest to investigate in future studies this aspect, to better understand the correlation between varroa infestation, season and geographical distribution. 

2) English language and style are fine/minor spell check required.

Answer: Regarding English language and style, we have solved the minor spell check required in the text.

3) Method and research design can be improved.

Answer: Concerning the methods and research design. Within the section material and method,  we highlighted the effort made to reach the higher number of beekeepers. We are aware that we could improve in future studies.

Remaining at your disposal,

We send you our best regards,

Giovanni and other Authors

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

 

The main aim of this research was to present the data obtained by an on-line international survey concerning the adoption of good beekeeping practices and proper biosecurity measures for management of varroosis in Apis mellifera. Data collected investigated beekeeping techniques, treatments, and training beekeepers adopt concerning Varroa mite. The idea was to validate a tool able to collect and compare the management measures adopted by beekeepers to face Varroa and problems is causes.

The paper is well written. The text is clear and easy to read. The conclusions are consistent 

The topic is relevant because Varroa parasite is the most destructive enemy of the Western honey bees and its control requires significant efforts and costs.

When it comes to originality, there are similar papers based on surveys. One of these is the survey conducted by COLOSS recently published in Brodschneider et al. (2022) Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe. J. Pest Sci. 2022, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-022-01523-2

Just to compare: That work of Brodschneider et al. (2022) encompassed answers concerning Varroa diagnosis and control measures of 28,409 beekeepers maintaining 507,641 colonies originating from 30 European countries. The current manuscript (that I am reviewing) included answers of 767 (703) respondents, but the number of countries where the respondents live is not given; it is writen only that „most came from Europe (n=525; 74.7%) and the Americas (n=147; 20.9%) with lower percentages from Africa (1.6%), Asia (1%), and Oceania (0.9%)“. Since the authors of current study barely mentioned the results of Brodschneider et al. (2022) that included much greater number of respondents, I think it deserves to be mentioned in Introduction, and more extensively itemized in the Discussion.

Another one similar paper is published by Guiné et al (2021) Characterization of beekeepers and their activities in seven European countries. Agronomy 11(12):2398, https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/12/2398. This one is not mentioned in manuscript, and I suggest authors to include it, at least in the Discussion of demographic data.  

 Line 40: Reference No. 5 in the first sentence is published 22 years ago, so I am suggesting to add more recent relevant references, at least this one: Reams T, Rangel J (2022), Understanding the Enemy: A Review of the Genetics, Behavior and Chemical Ecology of Varroa destructor, the Parasitic Mite of Apis mellifera, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 22, Issue 1, 18, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab101

 

Please check how the references are written in the Reference list.

- In Ref. No. 41 I think ‘(2004)’ should be removed and that DOI should be added.

- In Ref. No. 43 DOI should be added.

 

Finally, I personally do not prefer this type of work because they often do not reflect the truth, i.e. the real situationBased on personal experience, I can tell that hobbyist beekeepers sometimes improve the situation compared to professionals, and in this study there is a shortage of professional beekeepers in both regions (14.4% in the Americas and 16.4% in Europe),

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your efforts in revising our document.

Here follow our answers to your comments.

1) English language and style are fine/minor spell check required

Answer: Regarding English language and style, we have solved the minor spell check required in the text.

2) Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references? Are all the cited references relevant to the research?

Answer: Thank you for your considerations and suggestions. We checked all the references in the introduction and they appear useful to give sufficient background concerning Varroa management and control. In addition we added Brodschneider et al. (2022) to the introduction (which was already cited in the disussion).

3) The main aim of this research was to present the data obtained by an on-line international survey concerning the adoption of good beekeeping practices and proper biosecurity measures for management of varroosis in Apis mellifera. Data collected investigated beekeeping techniques, treatments, and training beekeepers adopt concerning Varroa mite. The idea was to validate a tool able to collect and compare the management measures adopted by beekeepers to face Varroa and problems is causes.The paper is well written. The text is clear and easy to read. The conclusions are consistent.The topic is relevant because Varroa parasite is the most destructive enemy of the Western honey bees and its control requires significant efforts and costs.                When it comes to originality, there are similar papers based on surveys. One of these is the survey conducted by COLOSS recently published in Brodschneider et al. (2022) Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe. J. Pest Sci. 2022, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-022-01523-2

Answer: The reference suggested, Brodschneider et al. (2022), was already  present in the references because we cited it within the Discussion. Either way, we thank you for your advice to intregate it in the Introduction. We added in the text more details too.

4) Just to compare: That work of Brodschneider et al. (2022) encompassed answers concerning Varroa diagnosis and control measures of 28,409 beekeepers maintaining 507,641 colonies originating from 30 European countries. The current manuscript (that I am reviewing) included answers of 767 (703) respondents, but the number of countries where the respondents live is not given; it is writen only that „most came from Europe (n=525; 74.7%) and the Americas (n=147; 20.9%) with lower percentages from Africa (1.6%), Asia (1%), and Oceania (0.9%)“. Since the authors of current study barely mentioned the results of Brodschneider et al. (2022) that included much greater number of respondents, I think it deserves to be mentioned in Introduction, and more extensively itemized in the Discussion.

Answer: Thank you for your considerations and suggestions. We cited  Brodschneider et al. (2022) in the Discussion where our findings were similar. Specifically, this was the text added in the Discussion: Oxalic Acid treatment (69.0%; Adding up the different way of OA treattment); [Ref No 21] regarding the common practice "Monitoring varroa infestation during the active season" and Drone brood removal. While, concerning the number of countries where the respondents live, this information is not given in our paper (even if it is available). Given that our sample is smaller than Brodschneider et al. (2022), we choose to consider only the category Europe without splitting it in different clusters.

5) Another one similar paper is published by Guiné et al (2021) Characterization of beekeepers and their activities in seven European countries. Agronomy 11(12):2398, https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/12/2398. This one is not mentioned in manuscript, and I suggest authors to include it, at least in the Discussion of demographic data.  

Answers: We already cited the paper published by Guiné et al (2021) (Ref No. 33) in the Discussion 

6) Line 40: Reference No. 5 in the first sentence is published 22 years ago, so I am suggesting to add more recent relevant references, at least this one: Reams T, Rangel J (2022), Understanding the Enemy: A Review of the Genetics, Behavior and Chemical Ecology of Varroa destructor, the Parasitic Mite of Apis mellifera, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 22, Issue 1, 18, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieab101

Answer: Regarding the Ref No 5, we replaced the least recent reference with Reams T, Rangel J (2022), as suggested.                              

7) Please check how the references are written in the Reference list. In Ref. No. 41 I think ‘(2004)’ should be removed and that DOI should be.In Ref. No. 43 DOI should be added.

Answer: We added the new Ref in the text using Mendely (because the program did not work), creating the Reference list at the same time. However, we deleted (2004) in the Ref. Brodschneider et al. (2022) (Ref. No 21). We chose to add the DOI in the Ref suggested as well as all the others, if it was possible. 

8) Finally, I personally do not prefer this type of work because they often do not reflect the truth, i.e. the real situationBased on personal experience, I can tell that hobbyist beekeepers sometimes improve the situation compared to professionals, and in this study there is a shortage of professional beekeepers in both regions (14.4% in the Americas and 16.4% in Europe),

Answer: Although in this study these categories were created based on personal consideration of respondents of being professional beekeepers or not, we are aware about the prevalence of hobbist beekkepers. It will be interesting to investigate with further study the different use of GBP in each category. 

Many thanks and kind regards.

Giovanni Formato and other Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I believe that this is an improved version of the manuscript.The available information of the manuscript is relevant and clearly presented.

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript is improved. As I have already said, I am not a fan of this kind of work, but the effort is made and work is well done.