Asian hornet “adds to growing number of threats to honeybees” – 91福利 research on BBC
Research to help prevent the spread of Asian hornet across the UK - carried out by the 91福利 - was recently featured on BBC Midlands Today and BBC Online.
Led by the 91福利鈥檚 Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), the recent study predicts that Asian hornet 鈥� a voracious predator of honey bees and other beneficial insects 鈥� could colonise the UK within two decades.
The BBC鈥檚 David Gregory-Kumar interviewed Dr Daniel Franklin at the School of Life Sciences.
Dr Franklin commented on the threat of Asian hornet:
鈥淚t is quite bad for our honeybee populations. The European honeybee has no natural defensive strategy against Asian hornets. They鈥檙e unlikely to be wiped out completely, but it adds to a growing number of threats to honeybees and pollinators [such as] pests, disease and pesticides.
鈥淲e鈥檙e quite well-prepared to try and combat a growing population of Asian hornets, and accurate reports of where they are would be key to doing that effectively鈥�.
The researchers simulated the likely spread of Asian hornet across the UK over a twenty-five year period, starting from a single active nest in a location near Tetbury, Gloucestershire 鈥� where the first verified nest in the UK was discovered and destroyed in 2016.
It is believed that Asian hornet first came to Europe in 2004, in an import of Chinese pottery to France. Since then, Asian hornet has spread through France to infest Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium 鈥� and was first identified in the UK in 2016.
Using recent data from the Andernos-les-Bains region in South-West France 鈥� where there has been detailed observation and destruction of Asian hornet nests during the past eight years 鈥� the researchers mapped a similar potential invasion in the UK.
The likely invasion of Asian hornet in the UK 鈥� and consequent destruction of bee populations 鈥� could be halted if beekeepers and the general public (especially in the South-West) are vigilant, and able to identify them.
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