Logo do repositório
 
Publicação

Beekeeping in Europe facing climate change: a mixed methods study on perceived impacts and the need to adapt according to stakeholders and beekeepers

2025-08-25Artigo científico Acesso aberto
Ver registo simples
datacite.subject.fosCiências Sociais
datacite.subject.fosCiências Sociais::Sociologia
datacite.subject.fosCiências Sociais::Outras Ciências Sociais
datacite.subject.sdg13:Ação Climática
dc.contributor.authorVan Espen, Marie
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, James H.
dc.contributor.authorAlves, Fátima
dc.contributor.authorHung, Yung
dc.contributor.authorGraaf, Dirk C. de
dc.contributor.authorVerbeke, Wim
dc.date.accessioned2026-02-13T11:20:25Z
dc.date.available2026-02-13T11:20:25Z
dc.date.issued2025-08-25
dc.description.abstractThe beekeeping sector is suffering from the detrimental effects of climate change, both directly and indirectly. Despite numerous studies conducted on this subject, large-scale research incorporating stakeholders' and beekeepers' perspectives has remained elusive. This study aims to bridge this gap by assessing the extent to which stakeholders involved in the European beekeeping sector and European beekeepers perceive and experience the impacts of climate change on their operations, and whether they had to adapt their practices accordingly. To this end, a mixed-methods study including in-depth stakeholder interviews (n = 41) and a pan-European beekeeper survey (n = 844) was completed within the frame of the EU-funded H2020-project B-GOOD. The development of the beekeeper survey was informed by insights from literature and the stakeholder interviews. The results highlighted significant regional disparities in the perceived impacts of climate change, with beekeepers in Southern European regions expressing more negative outlooks, while Northern European beekeepers reported more favourable experiences. Furthermore, survey analysis revealed beekeepers who were classified as ‘heavily impacted’ by climate change. These beekeepers reported lower average honey yields, higher colony winter loss rates and a stronger perceived contribution of honey bees to pollination and biodiversity, underscoring climate change's detrimental impacts on the beekeeping sector. Multinomial logistic regression revealed determinants of the likelihood of beekeepers being classified as ‘heavily impacted’ by climate change. This analysis indicates that Southern European beekeepers experienced a 10-fold likelihood of being classified as heavily impacted by climate change compared to Northern European beekeepers. Other significant factors distinguishing ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ were self-reported level of professionalism as a beekeeper (ranging from pure hobbyist to fully professional, Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.31), number of years active in beekeeping (OR = 1.02), availability of floral resources throughout the bee season (OR = 0.78), beehives located in a forested environment (OR = 1.34), and the presence of local policy measures addressing climate change-related challenges (OR = 0.76).eng
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 817622 (project B-GOOD). Project consortium partners and beekeeping associations who assisted in the recruitment of stakeholders and beekeepers are gratefully acknowledged. Dana Freshley (Ghent University), João Bica (University of Coimbra) and Claudina Martins (University of Coimbra) are gratefully acknowledged for their help with data collection and curation. Part of this work was carried out with the participation of the R&D Unit Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People and the Planet (CFE) (Portugal), with reference UIDB/04004/2020, financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC).
dc.identifier.citationVan Espen, M., Williams, J. H., Alves, F., Hung, Y., de Graaf, D. C., & Verbeke, W. (2023). Beekeeping in Europe facing climate change: A mixed methods study on perceived impacts and the need to adapt according to stakeholders and beekeepers. Science of The Total Environment, 888, 164255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164255
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164255
dc.identifier.issn0048-9697
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/21287
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relationCentre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet
dc.relation.hasversionhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723028760?via%3Dihub
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectApiculture
dc.subjectClimate adaptation
dc.subjectApis mellifera
dc.subjectPerception
dc.subjectPollinators decline
dc.titleBeekeeping in Europe facing climate change: a mixed methods study on perceived impacts and the need to adapt according to stakeholders and beekeeperseng
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.awardTitleCentre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04004%2F2020/PT
oaire.citation.startPage164255
oaire.citation.titleScience of The Total Environment
oaire.citation.volume888
oaire.fundingStream6817 - DCRRNI ID
oaire.versionhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
person.familyNameAlves
person.givenNameFátima
person.identifier.ciencia-idF41D-6E75-A58D
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-2600-8652
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
relation.isAuthorOfPublication01db740c-0644-4274-a03f-4c348c8b8ac5
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery01db740c-0644-4274-a03f-4c348c8b8ac5
relation.isProjectOfPublicationaa0cc853-8377-474b-b16d-0888ee9b69c3
relation.isProjectOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryaa0cc853-8377-474b-b16d-0888ee9b69c3

Ficheiros

Principais
A mostrar 1 - 1 de 1
Miniatura
Nome:
Van Espen et al. - 2023 - Beekeeping in Europe facing climate change A mixed methods study on perceived impacts and the need.pdf
Tamanho:
1.03 MB
Formato:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Ver/Abrir
Licença
A mostrar 1 - 1 de 1
Miniatura indisponível
Nome:
license.txt
Tamanho:
1.97 KB
Formato:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Descrição:
Ver/Abrir

Coleções

Extensão do Centro de Ecologia Funcional da Universidade de Coimbra na Universidade Aberta | Artigos em revistas internacionais / Papers in international journals