Uncovering Links Between Bee Health & Diet

NBDC creates impactful solutions to issues facing honey producers. Researchers employ state-of-the-art techniques to definitively identify honey quality, including the sugar spectrum, chemical residues, and botanical compounds. These insights empower the apiculture industry to make informed decisions.

Current Research

  • Status: Ongoing
  • Lead Researcher: Patricia Wolf Viega
  • Description: The type of pollen in a bee’s diet is critically important to its health, and studies have shown that bee mortality decreases with diets of increased pollen diversity. In addition, the quality and value of honey are strongly influenced by the floral species on which bees forage. However, determining species origins of pollen collected by bees is a challenging, time-consuming task that requires extensive taxonomic expertise. Advances in DNA technology offer a potential means to overcome many limits of traditional, morphology-based taxonomy. Analyzing pollen DNA in honey and on the bodies of bees can accurately determine the plant species a bee has visited and uncover links between bee health and landscape-level floral resources.
  • Partners: Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), Alberta Beekeepers Commission (ABC), Alfalfa Seed Commission of Alberta (ASCA)
  • Funding: Results Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR)

Research Lead: Dr. Kouadio Gerard Bedie

Description: NBDC is expanding its current offerings to include advances in honey testing. Local producers are aware of the impact of fraudulent honey on the Canadian honey industry, as adulterated honey can lower prices. The expansion of honey testing at NBDC will establish measures to address this issue. Testing will be used to determine both the sugar spectrum in honey samples and the presence of botanical compounds.

Funding: NSERC, Prairies Economic Development Canada, Alberta Beekeepers Commission

Get in Touch

NWP National Bee Diagnostic Centre

Office: BVE104

Phone: 780-357-7737

Email: NBDC@nwpolytech.ca