PhD Student
Email: malena.sibajaleyton@ird.fr
Office number: 1315, IDEEV building
PhD Subject:
“Using citizen sciences to monitor pollinator health in developing countries”
In recent decades, research in conservation biology and ecosystem services has increasingly relied on citizen science programs. These allow the compilation, on a large spatio-temporal scale, of data on the abundance and/or diversity of species as well as on human activities and human-nature interactions. These citizen science programs can now rely on new technologies for collecting and sharing information, and for analyzing large data sets, which are in full development. New ways are therefore being open to increase transparency between actors in order to promote changes in practices and innovations that preserve and enhance these common goods.
Global concerns about honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony mortality have encouraged the development of citizen science programs to monitor colony losses in recent years. However, several regions around the world are missing among the existing international programs, particularly Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. In response to these gaps, the Latin American consortium SOLATINA has developed its own bee monitoring program in the region since 2016. A unified questionnaire on bee colony losses has been adapted to the climatic conditions of the region and includes other types of beekeeping activities, such as meliponiculture.
The objective of this thesis project is twofold: (1) to investigate potential biotic and abiotic influences on honey bee colony mortality and management practices of producers in Latin America through the continuation of the citizen science program and the processing of data collected in the region; (2) to develop a similar program in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This PhD is funded by the IRD’s PhD grant program called ARTS.
Oral communications:
Sibaja Leyton, M., Lattorff, H. M. G., Kiatoko, N., Requier, F. (September 2023) Honey bee colony loss in Kenya. 48th Apimondia, Santiago, Chile.
Requier, F., Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K. (November 2022) Pérdidas de colmenas de abejas melíferas y abejas sin aguijón en América Latina. IV Workshop SOLATINA 2022, Cuzco, Perú.
Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K., Requier, F. And “Colony Loss” SOLATINA’s working group (November 2022). Influencia de los factores sanitarios, el manejo apícola y el clima en las pérdidas de colmenas de abejas melíferas en América Latina, FILAPI, Cuzco, Perú.
Sibaja Leyton, M.(September 2022). Les abeilles et l’apiculture. Fête de la science organized by IRD, Bondy, France.
Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K., Requier, F. And “Colony Loss” SOLATINA’s working group (September 2022).The interplay of bee stressors, beekeeping management, and climate on honey bee colony loss in Latin America, Eurbee9, Belgrade Serbia. Book of abstracts: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7239012
Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K., Porrini, M., Requier, F. (January 2022). Distribución espacial de las pérdidas de colmenas en América Latina en el periodo 2016-2018. Congreso Internacional “Producción Apícola y Meliponicola Nicaraguense”, Nicaragua (online).
Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K., Requier, F. (October 2021). Result of the SOLATINA’s survey on bee colony losses. Green School Workshop on Biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban areas; linking values, science and practice, Sergipe Brazil (online).
Sibaja Leyton, M., Antunez, K., Requier, F. (September 2021) Monitoreo de pérdidas de colonias. III Workshop SOLATINA 2021, Montevideo, Uruguay (online).