The COLOSS BEEBOOK Volume II, Standard methods for Apis mellifera pest and pathogen research: Introduction

The COLOSS BEEBOOK is a practical manual compiling standard methods in all fields of research on the western honey bee, Apis mellifera.The COLOSS network was founded in 2008 as a consequence of the heavy and frequent losses of managed honey bee colonies experienced in many regions of the world (Neumann and Carreck, 2010).As many of the world's honey bee research teams began to address the problem, it soon became obvious that a lack of standardized research methods was seriously hindering scientists' ability to harmonize and compare the data on colony losses obtained internationally.In its second year of activity, during a COLOSS meeting held in Bern, Switzerland, the idea of a manual of standardized honey bee research methods emerged.The manual, to be called the COLOSS BEEBOOK, was inspired by publications with similar purposes for fruit fly research (Lindsley and Grell, 1968; Ashburner, 1989;Roberts, 1998;Greenspan, 2004).Production of the BEEBOOK began after recruiting international experts to lead the compilation of each research domain.These senior authors (first in the author list) were tasked with recruiting a suitable team of contributors to select the methods to be used as standards and then to report them in a user-friendly manner (Williams et al., 2012).The initial BEEBOOK project is divided into three volumes: The COLOSS BEEBOOK, Volume I: Standard methods for Apis mellifera research; The COLOSS BEEBOOK, Volume II: Standard methods for Apis mellifera pest and pathogen research; and The COLOSS BEEBOOK, Volume III: Standard methods for Apis mellifera product research.Papers in the BEEBOOK are organized according to research topics.The authors have compiled those methods selected as the 'best' in each domain of research.These methods are for both laboratory