Reducing honey bee winter mortality with molybdenum supplementation: field evidence across Europe
Data files
Oct 16, 2025 version files 25.28 KB
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Greece_2022.csv
1.63 KB
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README.md
4.54 KB
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Spain_2023.csv
13.06 KB
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Winter_mortality.csv
6.05 KB
Abstract
Nutrition is key to improving honey bees' resilience to environmental stress factors that threaten their health. Yet, little is known about the micronutritional needs of colonies, in particular about molybdenum, an essential trace element in biology. This study focuses on a coordination complex based on molybdenum, Mo(+V), which was assessed for compatibility with standard beekeeping practices. It was found to be non-toxic for bees, stable, and easy to use. Importantly, it does not leave any residues in the honey produced. This study investigated how supplementation with a few milligrams of this complex can improve hive performance in early spring and reduce winter mortality. Over a two-year field campaign, 283 beehives spread over 6 apiaries located in Spain, Greece, and France were involved: 142 beehives supplemented with the molybdenum-based compound and 141 beehives as a control group. Supplementation resulted in a significant reduction in winter colony losses, averaging a 44% decrease, ranging between 27% and 75% in the different apiaries. The risk of death was twice lower in the Na-Mo2O4-EDTA group compared to the control group (risk ratio: 0.51). The impact on bee populations and honey production was also evaluated. A significant increase in honey reserves within the brood area of 107% was observed in the Greek apiary, whereas no comparable effect was detected in Spain, suggesting that local environmental conditions or management practices may influence this parameter. This study highlights the importance of molybdenum in the management of honey bees as an efficient tool to reduce the winter mortality of the colonies. The data set provided on Dryad includes all raw data concerning the field test in France, Spain, and Greece.
This repository contains the data used to conduct the descriptive and statistical analyses and create the figures referenced in the paper of the same name.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mkv
Description of the data and files structure
1. Winter_mortality.csv
Description:
This file contains experimental data used for the winter mortality analysis. Data were collected in Spain (winters 2023 and 2024) and in France (winter 2024).
Variables and description:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
Experiment |
Unique identifier for the experiment |
Treatment |
Name of the diet |
Mortality |
Binary variable indicating whether the colony died (1) or not (0) |
2. Spain_2023.csv
Description:
This file contains experimental data on the impact of the complex Na-Mo2O4-EDTA under field conditions. Data were collected in Spain (Trujillo, Extremadura) in colonies of A. mellifera iberiensis housed in Layens-type hives. The study duration was 265 days, from the beginning of November 2023 (M0) to the end of July 2024.
"NA" is explained by the death of hives during the experiment or the impossibility of collecting the data (e.g., not enough bees collected in the field for biomarker analysis)
Variables and description:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
Apiary |
Unique identifier for the Apiary |
Hive |
Unique identifier for the hive |
Hive_ID |
Identifier for the hive nested in the Apiary |
Treatment |
Name of the diet |
Assessment |
Date of assessment, 0 = Day 0, 1 = Day 120, 2 = Day 265 |
Honey |
Honey surface (cm2) |
Bees |
Number of honey bees |
TAC |
Total antioxidant capacity expressed as Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC, µM Trolox) |
ALP |
Alkaline phosphatase activity expressed as units per milliliter (U/mL) |
3. Greece_2022.csv
Description:
This file contains experimental data on the impact of the complex Na-Mo2O4-EDTA under field conditions. Data were collected in Greece (Nea Moudania) in colonies of A. mellifera macedonica in Langstroth nucleus hives. The experiment started mid-May 2022 and lasted 56 days. Dead bees were collected and counted in each trap every 4 days. On Day 56, the cumulated number of dead bees was summarized to one count.
Variables and description:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
Hive |
Unique identifier for the hive |
Treatment |
Name of the diet |
HoneyD0 |
Honey surface (cm2) at Day 0 of the experiment |
HoneyD56 |
Honey surface (cm2) at Day 56 of the experiment |
BeesD0 |
Number of bees at Day 0 of the experiment |
BeesD56 |
Number of bees at Day 56 of the experiment |
Morta_cumul |
Cumulated number of dead bees |
Requirements
All analyses were performed in the R version 4.5.1 [R Core Team (2025). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/]
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- None
Data was derived from the following sources:
- No additional sources; data were collected by the study authors