Essentials, spadework, objectives

Module 1 - Investigation of immune factors and injury thresholds

Responsibility

Dr. R. Büchler, Kirchhain
ralph.buechler@llh.hessen.de


Essentials and spadework
  • Immunotoxic effects of environmental chemicals have been recorded in many organisms; for honey bees, this issue is still insufficiently examined.

  • Environmental stress is associated with increased bee losses.

  • Our group is working on characterisation of the honey bee's immune system, for which it has already developed a standardised method.

  • The industrial partner Bayer CropScience AG has extensive expertise in investigating the damage to bees caused by crop protection products.

 

 

Objectives
  • Deepen our comprehension of the interaction between immune defence and environmental factors.

  • Implementation of this knowledge to prevent harm to bee colonies.

  • Simplification of assay methods to detect potential harm to bees by agrochemicals.