This article first appeared on Galway Bay FM

University of Galway is leading a new study to investigate the survival of wild honey bees across Europe.

It’s a cross-European collaboration called the “Free B Project” and it coincides with World Bee Day this week.

Free living honey bees were once thought to be extinct in the wild.

We now know they’re not – but there’s still a lot of mystery around how these colonies have survived, or if they’re stable.

Researchers from Ireland, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden are now looking to fill in those knowledge gaps.

Their work will focus on forested and remote areas in various European countries, including Ireland, with a number of questions in mind.

How do these wild colonies work? How are they impacted by climate and landscape? Are they more resistant to disease?

Whatever the answers, researchers are excited to learn more about wild bees, and are hopeful their work will prove beneficial for captive bees and their keepers

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