Living in harmony with nature: the key to resilience of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Africa

Abstract

Managed honeybees play a crucial role in enhancing agricultural crop production and plant biodiversity conservation and ensuring food security. However, beekeepers, especially those in the Northern Hemisphere, are experiencing high honeybee colony losses, mainly due to the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. This could threaten our future food security. The presence of V. destructor has also been reported in Africa; however, honeybees are less affected by the mite. Moreover, local beekeepers do not consider the mite as a threat to their colonies, and colonies survive without mites’ treatment. Mite-resistant honeybee populations have also been reported in various parts of Europe, but they are limited in number and confined to specific regions. Therefore, understanding why mite-resilient honeybee populations are flourishing in many African countries is crucial for developing effective management strategies to improve honeybee health worldwide. Hence, this review synthesizes existing knowledge about the factors and traits that allow mite-resilient honeybee populations in Africa to flourish and aims to translate the insights gained from Africa into more effective approaches for managing the impact of V. destructor worldwide. The results suggest that African-derived honeybees are resilient to a broad set of threats including V. destructor because they live in harmony with nature. Resilience is attributed to a more bee-friendly environment, to better balanced colony densities, to beekeepers’ management practices, and to the bee’s behavioural adaptation and physiological and genetic traits. Nature-based beekeeping practices that allow natural selection to operate and maintain the genetic diversity of local honeybee subspecies are the key to their resilience against V. destructor.