Honey bees (Apis mellifera) not only supply humanity with delicious honey but also deliver substantial pollination services in agricultural settings and natural ecosystems worldwide.

Around ~75 % of all crops need pollination by insects and the honey bee is the most important provider of this ecosystem service.

Due to a variety of natural and human made causes bee keepers experience substantial losses of this life stock.

Besides indirect stressors, like loss of foraging resources, individual bees and whole colonies are exposed to pesticides and several viral (e.g. Deformed wing virus), fungal (e.g. Nosema spp.), bacterial (e.g. Paenibacillus larvae causing American foulbrood), and mite (e.g. Varroa destructor) parasites.

During my time in the bee research group I investigated virus infections and Varroa mite-surviving honeybee populations, as well as the epidemiology of American foulbrood and potential beneficial effects of Lactic acid bacterial symbionts.