Winter loss of honeybees (apis mellifera): identification of novel and known honeybee viruses associated with weak colonies using state of the art viral metagenomics approaches (160m05816)

The main hypotheses of this project are that the honeybee virome is largely underexplored, that many currently unknown viruses may play a crucial role in Winter Loss (WL) and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in beehives worldwide, and that the reduction of the burden of particular viruses may be of great benefit for overall honeybee health.