Jean-Marie is a beekeeper in the province of Hainaut. Via the orange button Alert us, he is sorry: “Like many beekeepers in Wallonia, I lost bee colonies last autumn. Some beekeeper friends lost 50% of their livestock and others all of their hives”, he testifies. Jean-Marie has thus lost 6 hives in a few months and is about to lose a seventh. “If it continues like this, there will never be any more bees. I fear the disappearance of all my hives. In 2023, I expect to lose a whole series of colonies despite my precautions”, says the beekeeper.
According to him, the culprit is none other than the Asian hornet. He discovered 4 nests nearby. “If the hornet continues to destroy hives, in a very short time, there will be no more bees. I know a lot of beekeepers who have thrown in the towel. It’s a drama, a disaster”, he laments. The beekeeper believes that these disappearances should alert the authorities. “What are our regional and federal agricultural and environmental policymakers doing? Our bees, our other insects, our birds and future human generations are also in danger,” he testifies.
Jean-Marie is passionate. For several years, he has been working to save the “black bees”. “For me, they are my little girls. When a hive is not well, I am not well”, he breathes. As Cari (Beekeeping Research and Information Center) reminds us on its website, it is a “indigenous bee, the one that has always lived with us and is part of our natural heritage”. Today, Jean-Marie fears that his apiaries will suddenly disappear because of the Asian hornet. “I have completely empty hives because of the hornet. However, these are super important insects, because for many scientists they are the most important being on the planet. It is not a bacterium, it is not a fungus”, he confides.
The Asian hornet arrived on our territory in 2016. And little by little, the latter is becoming more and more present as explained by Louis Hautier, entomologist at the Walloon Center for Agronomic Research. “In 2022, more than 1,600 nests have been neutralized. The hornet is well established in our home and we will have to live with this invasive species”, he enlightens. The hornet thus attacks the most abundant prey such as honeybees or flies. “A hive is a real driving range. The hornet only has to show up and it always has resources arriving. In addition, they are loaded with provisions and all the easier to catch”, emphasizes the specialist.
The video below illustrates the attack of a hornet on a bee:
For the bees, it is an additional stress. To maintain the colonies of bees, it is, according to him, important to manage the presence of the hornet. “The hornet’s diet should be studied and documented as much as possible. It depends on its environment and what it has available,” says Louis Hautier. Traps exist to limit the action of the Asian hornet. “Traps that are not selective are to be avoided because they will have an impact on biodiversity. Research must be carried out on the baits”, assures the specialist.
Should we fear the disappearance of bees as imagined by the beekeeper we interviewed? We question Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot, in charge of monitoring wild pollinators at Natagora. This specialist explains to us that it is very important to qualify the term “bee”. “When we talk about bees, we often think of hives, but there are all the wild species next to it”, insists the specialist. In Belgium, there are 350 wild species. “Compared to the Asian hornet, it is not so much the wild species that are impacted. It is above all the apiaries that are attacked, so a domesticated, controlled bee, on which we have made crosses and selections so that it is more productive. It’s not wilderness”says the specialist.
The arrival of the Asian hornet should not be seen as a disaster for biodiversity, believes the specialist. “It’s a more economic disaster. If apiaries are attacked, the beekeeper loses his hives or when bees are used for industrial pollination”he points out.
The Asian hornet must therefore be seen as a newcomer. “It’s a predator among many others. It’s not going to be meaner or more voracious than other predators (…) When new species arrive, they have a temporary advantage because the predators do not know it no, they don’t have their own diseases. Here, there is an imbalance that can pose a problem, especially for beekeeping. It takes time for it to be rebalanced. The hardest part is now: it’s the period when he arrives where he makes a bit of a mess, but it will gradually balance out, but we are still impatient”, explains Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot. “If there was a problem, we would already see it. There are millions of other things that are problematic like the management of our green spaces, pollutants, intensive agricultural inputs, urbanization… All that is a thousand times more dangerous than the Asian hornet”, nuance l’expert.
Many pollinating insects
Bees are among the pollinating insects, essential for biodiversity and for a large part of the crops intended for our food. But they are not the only ones, recalls Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot. There are also flies, beetles and other insects. “The honeybee plays a role, but not for all plants and not everywhere”insists the specialist.
bees
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According to him, the culprit is none other than the Asian hornet. He discovered 4 nests nearby. “If the hornet continues to destroy hives, in a very short time, there will be no more bees. I know a lot of beekeepers who have thrown in the towel. It’s a drama, a disaster”, he laments. The beekeeper believes that these disappearances should alert the authorities. “What are our regional and federal agricultural and environmental policymakers doing? Our bees, our other insects, our birds and future human generations are also in danger,” he testifies.
Jean-Marie is passionate. For several years, he has been working to save the “black bees”. “For me, they are my little girls. When a hive is not well, I am not well”, he breathes. As Cari (Beekeeping Research and Information Center) reminds us on its website, it is a “indigenous bee, the one that has always lived with us and is part of our natural heritage”. Today, Jean-Marie fears that his apiaries will suddenly disappear because of the Asian hornet. “I have completely empty hives because of the hornet. However, these are super important insects, because for many scientists they are the most important being on the planet. It is not a bacterium, it is not a fungus”, he confides.
The Asian hornet arrived on our territory in 2016. And little by little, the latter is becoming more and more present as explained by Louis Hautier, entomologist at the Walloon Center for Agronomic Research. “In 2022, more than 1,600 nests have been neutralized. The hornet is well established in our home and we will have to live with this invasive species”, he enlightens. The hornet thus attacks the most abundant prey such as honeybees or flies. “A hive is a real driving range. The hornet only has to show up and it always has resources arriving. In addition, they are loaded with provisions and all the easier to catch”, emphasizes the specialist.
The video below illustrates the attack of a hornet on a bee:
For the bees, it is an additional stress. To maintain the colonies of bees, it is, according to him, important to manage the presence of the hornet. “The hornet’s diet should be studied and documented as much as possible. It depends on its environment and what it has available,” says Louis Hautier. Traps exist to limit the action of the Asian hornet. “Traps that are not selective are to be avoided because they will have an impact on biodiversity. Research must be carried out on the baits”, assures the specialist.
Should we fear the disappearance of bees as imagined by the beekeeper we interviewed? We question Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot, in charge of monitoring wild pollinators at Natagora. This specialist explains to us that it is very important to qualify the term “bee”. “When we talk about bees, we often think of hives, but there are all the wild species next to it”, insists the specialist. In Belgium, there are 350 wild species. “Compared to the Asian hornet, it is not so much the wild species that are impacted. It is above all the apiaries that are attacked, so a domesticated, controlled bee, on which we have made crosses and selections so that it is more productive. It’s not wilderness”says the specialist.
The arrival of the Asian hornet should not be seen as a disaster for biodiversity, believes the specialist. “It’s a more economic disaster. If apiaries are attacked, the beekeeper loses his hives or when bees are used for industrial pollination”he points out.
The Asian hornet must therefore be seen as a newcomer. “It’s a predator among many others. It’s not going to be meaner or more voracious than other predators (…) When new species arrive, they have a temporary advantage because the predators do not know it no, they don’t have their own diseases. Here, there is an imbalance that can pose a problem, especially for beekeeping. It takes time for it to be rebalanced. The hardest part is now: it’s the period when he arrives where he makes a bit of a mess, but it will gradually balance out, but we are still impatient”, explains Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot. “If there was a problem, we would already see it. There are millions of other things that are problematic like the management of our green spaces, pollutants, intensive agricultural inputs, urbanization… All that is a thousand times more dangerous than the Asian hornet”, nuance l’expert.
Many pollinating insects
Bees are among the pollinating insects, essential for biodiversity and for a large part of the crops intended for our food. But they are not the only ones, recalls Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot. There are also flies, beetles and other insects. “The honeybee plays a role, but not for all plants and not everywhere”insists the specialist.
bees