The Apiculture Program at the University of Delaware has many facets: research, teaching and extension, which are very interdependent. It is critical for an apiculture program to incorporate basic research results into applied management practices for industry groups and even citizen scientists. Due to the importance of honey bees in agriculture via the pollination service they provide and the marked decrease in honey bee populations over the past two decades, the science and art of beekeeping is a very sought after service. We serve the public sector through educational workshops, seminars, hands-on demonstrations, web design, consultation and grant funded research aimed at increasing the economic viability of beekeepers and land managers in the Mid-Atlantic region.
The goals and strengths of the Apiculture Program are: to understand how to manage for pollinator population stability and to effectively communicate findings to the scientific, agricultural and public communities, to use molecular techniques to understand the mechanisms for population stability across the landscape and the use of basic and applied research to mitigate a changing pollinator community that needs to meet human service requirements of pollination.
