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Honey bees are in trouble. Bee populations have been in serious decline for two decades and around a third of UK hives did not survive the cold, wet conditions during the winter of 2012.Ìý In this week’s Science Café Adam Walton visits the National Beekeeping Centre Wales in the Conwy Valley as he looks into the reasons for this dramatic decline.

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He talks to Francis Ratnieks from the University of Sussex, the UK’s only Professor of Apiculture, and to Dr. Anita Malhotra, a molecular ecologist at Bangor University. They tell him that the long-term loss of honey bees seems to be caused by a combination of factors, including viruses and introduced parasites like the Varroa destructor mite. More recently, researchers have also suggested a link between colony collapse disorder – where bees vanish from a hive – and neonicotinoid pesticides.ÌýÌý

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Adam also talks to Project Manager Colin Keys about the National Beekeeping Centre’s role in raising awareness of the importance of bees as pollinators and food producers. And Adam takes the veil – and other protective gear – as beekeeper John Humphreys gives him a guided tour of the Centre’s hives.