**9. Concluding Remarks**

The recent concerns in some regions over an increase in colony losses have prompted investment in more coordinated monitoring of bees and research into how pests and diseases, bee diversity, beekeeping practices, and their foraging environment is a ffecting bee vitality. The global picture shows that regions with established honey bee parasitic Varroa mite populations (*V. destructor*) have consistently higher colony losses. The active role of *V. destructor* as a vector of bee viruses is emerging as a significant factor in the losses of honey bee colonies seen globally. In addition, land managemen<sup>t</sup> and environmental conditions a ffect the availability and quality of food sources and also a ffect conditions in the hive, and e ffective managemen<sup>t</sup> of bee colonies under changing situations is dependent on beekeeping practices and bee selection/breeding.

The potential pesticide risk maps could aid in the prevention of honeybee colony losses. The maps could help identify regions with relatively high pesticide pressure in a species-specific manner, enabling conservation actions on a local scale. This could result in a lower local pesticide pressure for the bee species in question while minimizing economic damages since enforced pesticide regulations could be tailored to local high-risk areas. Such actions could help restore threatened bee species and lower honey bee colony losses, which would benefit pollinator dependent farmers and plant species by the increase of pollination services.

**Author Contributions:** All authors contributed equally to writing this review.

**Funding:** This work was funded by the National Scientific Fund of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science (grant numbers 06/10 17/12/2016). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
