The Australian Bee Observation Network (ABON) is a new project being launched by the Australian National University (ANU) to monitor the health of honey bees in response to the recent Varroa incursion. If it is established, Varroa will cause widespread changes to honey bees and beekeeping. While it has invaded every other continent, Australia has a unique but vanishing opportunity to collect pre-invasion data on the health of honey bees. This will allow us to understand how Varroa will change honey bees, and provide valuable data to beekeepers and the government to help manage the incursion.
Given the vast spatial and temporal scales over which this invasion will take place, we need a network of volunteers to help collect data for processing at ANU. We are looking for beekeepers and landholders to host sites and to help collect data. We will provide all the equipment and training needed to collect data, and will provide data back to our volunteers as it comes in, in addition to other opportunities to engage in the science.