Florine Ory – The scientist beekeeper or beekeeper scientist
Florine Ory is a Swiss scientist specializing in honeybee-microbe interactions. During her master's at Agroscope, she worked on a devastating disease impacting honeybee colonies across Europe. This project allowed her to fulfill a childhood dream of becoming a beekeeper, a passion she now shares with friends.
Florine is labeling the jars for the honey harvest of last year. Image: © Florine Ory
Florine Ory, from Delémont in Jura, developed a passion for biology at an early age, driven by her deep fascination with animals. As a child, she was captivated by beekeeping, though no one in her family practiced it. Her dream finally came true when she began her master’s program at the Swiss Bee Research Centre at Agroscope, Bern. Following her master's, she continued working there for 2.5 years and contributed to several publications, particularly focusing on microbe-honeybee interactions.
What makes honeybees so special?
When asked what fascinates her most about honeybees (Apis mellifera), she highlights the structured organization of a honeybee colony. Honeybees are master communicators, living in a crowded group, and only one thing is prioritized: the colony's survival. Millions of years of evolution have shaped them into highly cooperative beings—thousands of worker bees functioning as a single, harmonious superorganism.
The queen is in the middle with a number on her thorax, the workers circle her in harmony. Image: © Florine Ory
Florine’s work on honeybees
Honeybees thrive in a warm, humid, and enclosed environment—conditions that are perfect for their brood but also allow bacteria to flourish. To combat this, honeybee colonies produce antimicrobial molecules to clean their hives. However, a bacterium called Melissococcus plutonius can cause a severe disease known as European foulbrood (EFB). Infected larvae are quickly removed by nurse bees, leaving empty cells. Although adult bees do not show symptoms, they can carry the bacteria into the hive and transmit them to larvae during nursing and feeding activities. Several EFB outbreaks have been reported across Europe. Treatment of honeybees with antibiotics is ineffective and banned in most countries, prompting scientists to explore alternative methods to control the spread of the disease.
An example of a hive exhibiting EFB symptoms. The dark colored larvae are the infected bees who fail to survive. Image: © Agroscope
Previous research on a similar disease, American foulbrood, caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, suggests a natural cure through trans-generational immune priming (TGIP). This process involves transferring the immune response from the queen to her offspring, much like how breastfeeding passes immunity from mammals to their young.
Building on this, Florine and her team investigated whether pre-exposure of queens to Melissococcus plutonius could trigger an immune response in the offspring, offering better protection against EFB compared to non-exposed queens. This mechanism relies on vitellogenin, a key egg yolk protein in bees that also plays a role in immunity. When queens ingest the bacteria, pathogen-derived particles bind to vitellogenin, which is then incorporated into developing eggs. This process effectively transfers immune information to the next generation, acting like a natural vaccination for the progeny.
Florine and her colleagues exposed queens to the bacterium orally and then examined the performance of the larvae from infected queens. However, the team found that feeding queens live Melissococcus plutonius did not produce the expected immune boost in the offspring. Of course, this result does not rule out the potential for immunity through other methods, because natural immune priming may depend on several factors (routes of exposure, dose, type of signals (live vs dead pathogens), etc.) which have yet to be identified and then optimized for an effective preventive solution. Regardless, this study serves as an important reminder that natural immune priming may not always be a suitable solution for all bacterial infections.
How to start a new colony?
Florine while taking care of her honeybee colonies. Image: © Florine Ory
Starting a new colony requires a queen and around 5 000 worker bees, which can be obtained from an established beekeeper. The spring months, especially May, are ideal for this, as they align with the swarming season. However, in Switzerland, aspiring beekeepers must obtain a special permit and register with their local canton (see here for comprehensive information on beekeeping in Switzerland). While not mandatory, Florine emphasizes the value of having a mentor and undergoing proper training before getting started. A mentor will guide you through the process and, when the time comes, provide you with a colony to begin with.
In addition to knowledge, you will need a beehive house, filled with wooden frames and beeswax foundation sheets, as well as a beekeeper's suit to embark on your new hobby.
Florine joined forces with friends to produce honey through beekeeping. All of them have busy lives and treat it as a hobby, managing no more than seven colonies. Honey production varies depending on the season and their availability. However, their primary goal is to deepen their understanding of bees, with any extra honey being a delightful bonus.
A year through beekeeping
Winter: When winter approaches, the honeybees become less active, the queen stops laying eggs, and there are no more larvae or brood in the colony. Huddled together, the bees form a ball around the queen, keeping her warm. This is how they spend the winter, maintaining a temperature between 10 and 15°C. How do they do it? By consuming their honey reserves. A colony needs around 15 kilos of honey to survive the winter. The beekeeper must take care to leave this quantity for his bees. Image: © Florine Ory
Spring: The honeybee colonies in Florine's apiary are ready to be divided before the swarming season. Image: © Florine Ory
Summer: This is the time when honeybee colonies reach their peak population, sometimes exceeding 50 000 individuals. Image: © Florine Ory
Summer: Bees collect nectar or honeydew (sugary insect secretions) in their honey stomach. There, complex sugar molecules are cleaved by enzymes into smaller molecules. Through regurgitation and evaporation, the water content is reduced below 18%, which ensures the long shelf life of honey. Sealed in honeycombs, it provides essential food for the colony during winter. Image: © Florine Ory
Mid-summer: The hives are full of honeycombs containing fresh honey, stemming from nectar from wild flowers, forest tree flowers and from honeydew, ready to be harvested. Image: © Florine Ory
End of summer: The forest honey harvest of Florine and her friends. The beekeepers make sure that enough honey remains in the beehive so that the bees can survive the winter. If the bees haven't managed to produce enough honey for themselves, the beekeepers help them by giving them sugar syrup. Image: © Florine Ory
Before winter: The bees prepare their last reserves, the queen lays fewer eggs. The colony size is decreased and the winter bees are produced (these are bees surviving several months through the whole winter). During this period, Florine treats her colonies against the parasite Varroa destructor and ensures they are healthy, have enough food and individuals to survive the winter. At this stage, the hives are covered with blankets and the hive’s entrance size reduced to protect the honey from attacks of animals.
Academia knowledge combined with field experience
Florine emphasizes the unique learning experience she's gained from both beekeepers and scientists, noting that each has distinct methods for raising bees. According to Florine, beekeepers are exceptional observers who truly understand their hives. Through trial and error, they have developed practical, hands-on experience that they apply in their work. In contrast, scientists focus heavily on theory and are less likely to rely on intuition, which beekeepers often use in their practices.
What is Florine currently doing?
Currently, Florine is working in a contract research organization (CRO) in Basel as an ecotoxicologist, assessing the risk of different substances for aquatic and terrestrial animals (including pollinators such as honeybees) and plants. Using a scientific approach and tests carried out in controlled conditions (laboratory or field), she assesses the effect of chemical or biological substances on the environment. These data are essential in the process of regulation and commercializing new substances (e.g. chemical, biological, pharmacological or cosmetic to ensure environmental safety.
References
Ory F et al. 2022. Lack of evidence for trans-generational immune priming against the honey bee pathogen Melissococcus plutonius. PLoS ONE 17;5):e0268142. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268142
Hernández López J et al.. 2014. Trans-generational immune priming in honeybees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. 281;1785. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0454
The authors
