## 4 Discussion  
The scope of the survey presented here was to collect worldwide data on essential aspects of the beekeeping sector, mainly concerning the application of good beekeeping practices, the use of veterinary medicines and the technical support and training provided to beekeepers, in order to reduce the gap in knowledge and contribute to the dissemination of vital information among stakeholders. Attempts to collect this data were made on three different occasions through the on-line promotion of the questionnaire in collaboration with international institutions and beekeeping organizations. We interviewed people involved in the beekeeping sector (80% of the participants were beekeepers and 15% veterinarians), however, most of them were from Europe while wide geographic areas such as Africa and Asia remained almost completely unexplored. The low participation from medium and low-income areas might be due to the lack of or limited access to the internet or to a computer, language barriers, and/or difficulties in reaching beekeepers. Other surveys in apiculture have been more successful in terms of participants, such as the surveys conducted by COLOSS [20] and by the US Bee Informed Partnership [21], which involved 28,629 and 5725 beekeepers, respectively. However, these surveys mainly focused on colony mortality, included only a few questions on Varroa and queen management, and did not address the main topics reported in our study (prevention and control measures for the main honey bee diseases, the use of medicines, the efficacy of the treatments and the kind of assistance beekeepers receive). The distinction between hobby and professional beekeepers was made based on the number of hives they owned. There is no internationally recognized and clear definition of these two categories, probably because of the variability in hive production in the different geographical areas; therefore, we decided to set a threshold of 30 hives (based on the authors' experience and perception in relation to the EU context) to differentiate these two categories of beekeepers. A similar attempt was made in the US for the colony losses survey [21], where they differentiated three categories: backyard beekeepers (1-50 colonies), sideline beekeepers (51-500 colonies) and commercial beekeepers (>500 colonies). In regards to the general information about honey bee diseases, proper management of the hives and use of medicines (part A of the survey), the majority of beekeepers from both categories are able to recognize and manage (e.g., by proper feeding of the colonies in cases of nosemosis, or by shook swarm in cases of AFB and EFB) most important honey bee diseases (varroosis, AFB and EFB). Varroosis remains the biggest concern for European beekeepers as well as the most important reason for treating colonies with veterinary medicines. The results regarding the prevention and control measures adopted for Varroa showed that an \"organic\" approach to its control is prevalent (>70%) in Europe. The use of biomechanical methods, such as queen caging techniques or brood removal, are used quite frequently (>45%) by both categories of beekeepers. This denotes the use of approaches oriented towards sustainable beekeeping, as well as a good understanding of the integrated management of Varroa. A very small proportion of hobby beekeepers (4%) do not treat against Varroa. This might be the result of the \"natural selection\" approach to breeding for Varroa resistance that is gaining popularity among beekeepers in Europe (the so-called \"Darwinian beekeeping\" approach). This \"naive\" approach, which was not present among professional beekeepers, may cause, despite its low frequency, a serious threat to all surrounding apiaries by acting as a possible reservoir of the parasite. Among European beekeepers, significant attention is given to the regular monitoring of Varroa in order to prevent the attainment of too-high infestation levels within the colonies (48% of hobby and 38% of professionals).