Hagai Yehoshua Shpigler Ph.D.

Why do we study bee health and behavior? What can we learn from it?

Bees provide essential pollination services for agriculture. They also produce honey, benefiting us humans. However, bees face numerous challenges, including parasites, diseases, pesticides, and nutritional issues. We are here to help them! The Bee Health and Behavior Lab focuses on applied and basic research aimed at improving bee health and enhancing pollination services in agriculture, to advance the beekeeping industry in Israel and worldwide.

In the lab, several topics are being studied today:

Can honey bee queen be raised in the lab ?

The queen bee is the beating heart of the bee colony, responsible for laying eggs. The method of raising queens has remained largely unchanged for over a century. Our research questions are: Can queens be raised under controlled conditions? Is it possible to raise healthy, virus-free queens in a laboratory setting, thereby improving the health of the colonies? This research is being led by the graduate student and beekeeper Omer Kama.

Does social isolation affect bee behavior?

The honey bee is a social creature that lives in communities of tens of thousands of individuals. Bee behavior changes throughout their lives as they learn and adapt their roles according to the hive’s needs. Studies in mammals have shown that isolation during infancy impairs their ability to behave socially as adults. Does the isolation of a young bee alter its social behavior in adulthood? Our research questions are: Does social isolation impair bees’ ability to care for larvae? Does it change their aggression towards other bees? This research is being conducted by the high school students Itamar Treister and Kira Vyshnevsky from the Kannot Agricultural School.

How does pollen sterilization affect its nutritional quality?

Bumble bees are used for pollinating many crops. These bees are raised in factories on flower pollen. To avoid contamination in the pollen it must be sterilized with gamma rays, but does this process affect the quality of the pollen? Our research questions are: What is the effect of pollen irradiation on bee growth? Which components of the pollen are damaged by irradiation? Are viruses in the pollen infectious to bees? This research is being conducted by the graduate student Itzik Sade and Dr. Sigal Popovsky.

How can Varroa mites be controlled?

The Varroa mite is the most severe pest of honeybees and can collapse entire hives. The mite has developed resistance to several chemical treatments, making it increasingly difficult to manage year after year. Recently, it has been discovered that lithium salts can be used as a treatment against mites in the hive. Lithium salts are also used in human medicine, but what is the effect of lithium salts on the health and behavior of bees? Our research questions are: How does lithium treatment affect the aggression of bees? Does lithium have an impact on the queen’s egg-laying?

This research is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ohad Afik and Shlomi Zarhin, from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Why did I choose to research bees?

Bees are fascinating creatures with complex and unique social behavior. Researching bees requires imagination, curiosity, and perseverance. My lab team includes researchers, students, beekeepers, and high school students. I believe that anyone can engage in research, regardless of age or prior knowledge, and in the bees’ fascinating world, much remains unknown. The great bee researcher, Nobel laureate Professor Karl von Frisch, once said that bees are like a “wishing well”: the more you draw from it, the more it fills up, like an ever-flowing spring. There is no better description of the rich research experience in the bees’ marvelous world.

What would you like to learn about the fascinating world of bees?

If you are curious and love to explore, feel free to call and schedule a meeting to visit the lab and join our team!