This study examines how pesticide exposure and RNA virus loadings affect the honey bee gut microbiome across Canadian agroecosystems, identifying consistent bacterial-virus and pesticide-microbe associations.

bioRxiv · Jun 23, 2026 · PreprintMicrobiology

Comparative Proteomics Across Tissues and Crop Agroecosystems Reveals Agricultural Stressor Responses in the Western Honey Bee

Huan Zhong, Peipei Zhong, Junseo Park, Aleksandra Kozlova-Ryabova, Renata Moravcova, Jason C. Rogalski, Aidan Jamieson, Lance Lansing, Wendy W. T. Fang, Kyung‐Mee Moon, Xiaojing Yuan, Lynae P Ovinge, Jeffery D Kearns, Amanda S. Gregoris, Heather A. Higo, , Leonard J. Foster

The paper uses tissue-resolved proteomics to analyze how pesticide and pathogen stressors affect honey bee tissues across crop ecosystems, finding stable tissue-specific patterns and crop-associated changes.

bioRxiv · Jun 6, 2026 · PreprintBioinformatics

A non-invasive method for profiling the gut microbiome and virome of honey bee queens

Leslie A. Holmes, Patricia Wolf Veiga, Jeffery Stuart Pettis, Maria Marta Guarna, Shelley E. Hoover

This paper introduces a non-invasive method to collect feces from honey bee queens for profiling their gut microbiome and virome, enabling stressor detection and viral screening.

Scientific Reports · Jan 19, 2026Peer-reviewedMicrobiology

Insights from U.S. beekeeper triage surveys following unusually high honey bee colony losses 2024-2025

Anthony Nearman, Christopher L. Crawford, Maria Marta Guarna, Priyadarshini Chakrabarti, Katie Lee, Steven C. Cook, Elizabeth Hill, Arathi Seshadri, Garett P. Slater, Zachary S. Lamas, Yanping Chen, Danielle Downey, Jay Daniel Evans

Industry surveys covering over half of U.S. managed colonies found widespread 2024-2025 honey bee losses, worst in commercial operations, and no excess loss with amitraz use.

The Science of The Total Environment · Oct 8, 2025Peer-reviewedEcology✦ In-depth digest

Pollen foraging mediates exposure to dichotomous stressor syndromes in honey bees

Sydney B. Wizenberg, Sarah K. French, Laura R. Newburn, Mateus Pepinelli, Ida M. Conflitti, Mashaba Moubony, Caroline Ritchie, Aidan Jamieson, Rodney T. Richardson, Anthea Travas, Mohammed Arshad Imrit, Matthew Chihata, Heather A. Higo, Julia Common, Elizabeth M. Walsh, , Amro Zayed

This study shows that honey bee foraging preferences influence exposure to different stressor syndromes, with diverse foraging linked to pathogens and limited foraging linked to xenobiotics.

PNAS Nexus · Oct 1, 2024Peer-reviewedEcology

Climatic predictors of prominent honey bee (Apis mellifera) disease agents: Varroa destructor, Melissococcus plutonius, and Vairimorpha spp.

Alison McAfee, Niloofar Alavi, Lan Tran, Renata Labuschagne, Morgan Cunningham, Nadejda Tsvetkov, Julia Common, Heather A. Higo, Stephen F. Pernal, Pierre Giovenazzo, Shelley E. Hoover, Ernesto Guzmán‐Novoa, Robert W. Currie, Patricia Wolf Veiga, Sarah K. French, , Maria Marta Guarna

The paper examines how climate factors influence the occurrence and intensity of three honey bee pathogens across Canada, identifying key climatic predictors for each disease agent.

bioRxiv · Jun 28, 2024 · PreprintMolecular Biology

Higher prevalence of sacbrood virus in highbush blueberry pollination units

Alison McAfee, Sarah K. French, Sydney B. Wizenberg, Laura R. Newburn, Nadejda Tsvetkov, Heather A. Higo, Julia Common, Stephen F. Pernal, Pierre Giovenazzo, Shelley E. Hoover, Ernesto Guzmán‐Novoa, Robert W Currie, Patricia Wolf Veiga, Ida M. Conflitti, Mateus Pepinelli, , Leonard J. Foster

The study investigates pathogen prevalence in honey bees during highbush blueberry pollination, finding higher sacbrood virus levels in bees near blueberry fields post-pollination.

Journal of Economic Entomology · Jun 15, 2024Peer-reviewedZoology