The COLOSS (Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes) network was set up in 2008 to coordinate international research efforts for understanding the causes of worldwide honey bee colony losses, and most importantly to facilitate the transfer of information. It has led to unprecedented cooperation between bee researchers throughout the world, and the network currently consists of 320 members in 60 countries. 100 of those members recently attended the eighth COLOSS conference held at the Martin-Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.  LASI bee researcher Norman Carreck, who is a member of the Executive Committee of COLOSS, presented a talk at the conference about disseminating the results of the network. A number of methods for disseminating of information have been used, and to date, the network has produced over 130 papers with more than one COLOSS member published in refereed scientific journals.  COLOSS members greatly contributed to a Special Issue of the Journal of Apicultural Research on “Colony losses” published in January 2010, and as the first phase of the network reaches its conclusion, the major output will be the COLOSS “BEEBOOK:  standard methodologies for Apis mellifera research”, to be published at the end of this year. This will be the definitive guide to carrying out research with honey bees. In addition, COLOSS members have written many book chapters, and popular articles aimed at beekeepers and the general public.  The COLOSS network is funded by COST Action FA0803 and the Ricola Foundation.

The 2012 COLOSS conference delegates