Honeybee Health Protection

Beekeeping is more dependent on complex environmental factors than any other animal or food production industry, and currently, this important economy sector is faced with health crisis. Veterinarians have a vital role in the health of honeybee colonies and their notifiable disease monitoring, prevention, control and eradication. It is now known there is rather a variation with regard to the time of the veterinary studies that honeybee biology and pathology is taught throughout the different veterinary study curriculums in Europe and rest of the world. It is an area of veterinary medicine to which under graduate students get little exposure during their regular studies, but as veterinarians they should have knowledge about practical skills for clinical examinations of honeybee colonies and other veterinarian tasks at apiaries.

The veterinary profession strongly promotes the principle of continuous education and encourages veterinary education establishments to develop postgraduate opportunities to cover the needs of the veterinarians. This would enable graduate veterinarians to acquire the necessary competences and hands-on skills to be ready to practice veterinary medicine in apiaries. That means handling, examining, diagnosing and treating honeybee colonies, as well as ensuring the safety of their beehive products. Implementing good veterinary, beekeeping and environmental practices can guarantee the safety of apiculture food products as well as environmental biodiversity.

Students of the Honeybee Health Protection master study programme shall acquire knowledge about the biology and diseases of honeybee colonies, important pollinator insects – wild bees, as well as the basics of the preservation and protection of natural biodiversity. Upon completion of this study programme, students will:

  • be able to actively participate in honeybee colony protection programmes and wild bee species conservation programmes;
  • know the basics of managing apiaries and ancillary facilities;
  • carry out all the tasks of veterinarians in the apiary in accordance with the requirements and specifics of the life of honeybee colonies as social insects;
  • be able to identify, manage, control and prevent diseases of honeybee colonies;
  • be able to participate in basic epidemiological research related to honeybee colonies as well as other selected pollinator insects (bumblebee colonies, solitary bees of the genus Osmia).

ECTS points: 60 ECTS
Duration: 2 semesters
Fee: 5.000 EUR per semester
Head of the study: Professor Ivana Tlak Gajger, DVM, PhD
email: itlak@vef.unizg.hr

Honeybee Health Protection

prof. dr. sc. Ivana Tlak Gajger

redovita profesorica u trajnom izboru
Ivana Tlak Gajger

Franco Mutnelli

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Italy
NRL Bee Diseases in Italy
FAO Reference Centre for Apiculture: Health and Biosecurity
Franco Mutnelli

Giovanni Formato

Laboratorio di Apicoltura, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana "M.Aleandri", Italy
FAO Reference Centre for Apiculture: Health and Biosecurity
WOAH Collaborating Centre "Good Beekeeping Management Practices and Biosecurity Measures in the Apiculture Sector"
Giovanni Formato

Aleš Gregorc

Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Aleš Gregorc

Maja Smodiš Škerl

Agricultural Institute of Slovenia - Apiculture, Slovenia
Maja Smodiš Škerl

prof. dr. sc. Srebrenka Nejedli

redovita profesorica, trajno zvanje
Srebrenka Nejedli

Danilo Bevk

National Institute of Biology, Slovenia
Danilo Bevk

izv. prof. dr. sc. Daniel Špoljarić

Predstojnik; izvanredni profesor
Daniel Špoljarić

Josipa Vlainić

Institute Rudjer Boskovic, Croatia
Josipa Vlainić

Dražen Lušić

Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka, Croatia
Dražen Lušić

Damir Pavliček

Croatian Veterinary Institute, Department Križevci
Damir Pavliček

izv. prof. dr. sc. Diana Brozić

Izvanredna profesorica
Diana Brozić

dr. sc. Ivana Sabolek

viša asistentica
Ivana Sabolek

Obligatory courses

Biology and physiology of bees
Nutrition of honeybee colonies
Legislation in beekeeping
Veterinary practices in beekeeping
Surveillance and monitoring of bee health
Infectious diseases of honeybees
Parasitic diseases of honeybees
Predators, pests and enemies of honeybee colonies
Intoxications of bees
Laboratory disease diagnostics in beekeeping
Principles of sanitary beekeeping practices

Elective courses

Biology and diseases of bumblebees and other wild bees
Impact of environmental health on bees
Basics of beekeeping technologies
Honeybee queens rearing and health
Apicultural products and apitherapy
Honeybee product quality control

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