Protecting our Bee Species - Dr. Deborah Amulen, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB).

Bees are a very essential part of our livelihood. In Uganda alone, there are about 1.2 million households employed through bee keeping. Also, in the ecosystem support, about 70% of crop pollination is supported by wild bees. At the moment, landscapes are changing and land is being cleared anyhow. Ugandans cannot even track the diversity of bees 10 years ago. Monitoring this is very expensive in terms of time and money.

Pesticides have made matters worse, because they affect the nervous system of the bees. Climate change is another factor affecting bee survival. As temperatures fluctuate, only the competent bees survive. This is not to mention the common bee diseases associated with colony collapse that have been found in Ugandan bees. Due to the various problems facing the bee keeping industry, however, it is not known what the threshold is; Are the diseases killing the bees?

We hope that we will be able to work with the IT and weather teams to capture information that will predict areas of abundance and those of low levels, to further develop a conservation program for the bees.

The student on the entomology team will support the technology teams with information on the status of pollinators, pests and their diversity. There is laboratory component where another student will work on genetic diversity of these pathogens.