De Jongh, E.

One world, one hive: A scoping review of honey bees, climate change, pollutants, and antimicrobial resistance.
De Jongh, E.J., Harper, S.L., Yamamoto, S., Wright, C.J., Wilkinson, C.W., Otto, S.J.G.

Anthropogenic climate change and increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) together threaten the last 50 years of public health gains. Honey bees serve as a model One Health organism to investigate interactions between climate change and AMR. Given the limited evidence currently available, the objective of this scoping review was to examine the range, extent, and nature of published literature on the relationship between AMR and honey bees in the context of climate change and environmental pollutants.

The review followed systematic search methods outlined in the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer's Manual and the PRISMA Scoping Review reporting guidelines. A protocol was developed a priori and a search strategy was developed in conjunction with a research librarian. Resulting boolean search strings were systematically run through MEDLINE®, Scopus®, AGRICOLA™ and Web of Science™ databases. Retrieved articles were collated in DistillerSR and screened for eligibility by two independent reviewers via a two-stage screening process. Article abstracts were screened in the first stage, followed by full-text screening in the second stage. To be included, the article had to examine honey bees, AMR, and either climate change or environmental pollution. Data were extracted from relevant articles and descriptively synthesized.

The initial search recovered 1402 articles, with 1147 remaining after deduplication. First-stage screening identified 123 eligible articles and second-stage screening reduced this number to 27. Themes included pesticide effects on hive immunoactivity, environmental stability of antibiotics, and seasonal variance in antimicrobial hive products. The results showed considerable interconnectivity of hive and environmental health.

This review identified key themes and gaps in literature, and is intended to incite future research into the relationships between climate change, environmental pollution, and AMR using a One Health framework. It is integral that we view these wicked problems through an interdisciplinary lens to explore long-term strategies for change.