5m Books has announced the publication of Honeybee Veterinary Medicine: Apis Mellifera L. by Nicolas Vidal-Naquet, a new book written to help beekeepers and anyone involved in apiculture, and environmental organisations better understand how to preserve honeybees as part of a delicate ecosystem.

Honeybee Veterinary Medicine provides an overview of bee biology, the bee in the wider environment, bee diseases and parasites, veterinary treatment, and actions to help support honeybee health.

Honeybees are an essential part of farming and the wider ecosystem, but since the mid-1990s, bee populations around the world have suffered a dramatic decline through a combination of diseases, intoxication, and unknown causes.

5m says that with the depopulation trend continuing, it’s becoming more and more necessary for veterinary surgeons and qualified animal health professionals to become involved in supporting the ecosystem. 

Author Nicolas Vidal-Naquet is a veterinary practitioner who graduated in apiculture and Honeybee medicine, and also lectures on honeybee biology and diseases at the Veterinary School of Alfort in France.

Nicolas’ great interest in honeybees was the driving force behind the book, but he is also concerned by the general loss of bees from the ecosystem. He said: "They have a very important role in the pollination of wild flora, crops and orchards, which means they are key actors in sustaining biodiversity and the pollination of crops to feed both humans and animals."

Honeybee Veterinary Medicine is available now in hardback for £60 from http://www.5mbooks.com/honeybee-veterinary-medicine.html

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