Research, Resources & People
Honey bee health, genetics, behavior, pollination, public safety, and responsible beekeeping are connected issues. This page recognizes researchers, beekeepers, educators, organizations, queen producers, publications, and other resources whose work contributes useful knowledge or practical experience to the larger conversation.
About This Resource
Inclusion on this page does not imply a formal partnership, endorsement, or agreement with every position expressed by the people or organizations listed. The purpose is to recognize useful work, encourage continued learning, and help connect visitors with the broader honey bee community.
Save the RIGHT Bees — healthy, productive, resilient, and manageable honey bees.
Researchers, Educators & Beekeepers
Randy Oliver
Commercial beekeeper, independent researcher, writer, and educator whose work at Scientific Beekeeping brings scientific research together with practical field trials and commercial beekeeping experience. His work covers Varroa management, colony health, nutrition, breeding, pesticides, and other issues affecting managed honey bees.
Dr. Samuel Ramsey
Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder whose research focuses on bees, parasites, symbiosis, invasive threats, and pollinator health. His work on Varroa and emerging threats such as Tropilaelaps helps expand our understanding of the challenges honey bees may face in the future.
Dr. Zac Lamas
Honey bee researcher and behavioral ecologist whose work examines Varroa, disease ecology, virus transmission, and how host and parasite behavior can influence pathogen spread within honey bee colonies. His research helps connect colony behavior with the health of managed pollinators.
Dr. Juliana Rangel
Associate Professor of Apiculture at Texas A&M University. Her research includes queen and drone reproductive biology, behavioral ecology, population genetics of feral and managed honey bees, pollination, and beekeeping practices — areas directly relevant to understanding honey bee genetics and management.
Dr. Thomas Seeley
Horace White Professor in Biology Emeritus at Cornell University and a widely recognized researcher of honey bee behavior, social life, ecology, swarming, and collective decision-making. His work provides important insight into how colonies live, reproduce, and behave in managed and natural environments.
Dr. Jamie Ellis
Professor of Entomology and Director of the University of Georgia Bee Program. His work spans honey bee health, sustainable management, pollination, foraging ecology, research, education, and extension. He returned to the University of Georgia in 2026 to lead its Bee Program.
Related Efforts & Advocates
Bill Gibson — Bees Feed Us
Bill Gibson and Bees Feed Us promote awareness of the connection between honey bees, beekeeping, pollination, food security, and the future of our food supply. Bill has also shared his experience and perspective with Honey Bee Awareness as we work to bring greater attention to the long-term importance of healthy, manageable honey bees.
Bees Feed Us also provides a useful model for connecting beekeeping with mentorship, youth education, teaching apiaries, community food production, university relationships, and development of future beekeepers. Those themes complement Honey Bee Awareness by showing what responsible, manageable honey bees help make possible—not only what highly defensive behavior can put at risk.
John Fullbright
Beekeeper and advocate whose work includes apitherapy and bee venom therapy. John has also helped bring attention to the value of honey bees and the importance of maintaining gentle, manageable colonies while encouraging continued research into bee venom and its potential applications.
Queen Breeders, Bee Producers & Genetic Resources
Access to reliable queen producers, bee producers, and manageable honey bee genetics is an important part of responsible beekeeping. These businesses do more than supply commercial operations: they continually replenish managed honey-bee populations by providing queens and starter colonies to commercial, small-scale, and backyard beekeepers.
Note: The supplier references below reflect Honey Bee Awareness / The Bee Place field experience and publicly available company information. They are practical industry resources, not independent scientific endorsements or research findings.
Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc.
Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc. has been an important queen supplier for The Bee Place, helping us maintain and provide gentle, manageable honey bee genetics. Responsible queen production and access to dependable genetics are important parts of improving colony temperament while maintaining productive bees. Amanda @ Wooten Queens has been easy to work with, dependable, and professional, and our experience has been that they stand behind their bees and take care of their customers.
Family Queen-Breeding History and Park/Wooten Stock
Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc. continues a family beekeeping and queen-rearing tradition connected to the Park and Wooten families. Robert Wooten is a third-generation beekeeper, and Robert and Amanda Wooten purchased the beekeeping business from Shannon and Glenda Wooten in 2017, establishing Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc.
Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc. offers the same Park/Wooten productive queen, nucs, pollination and honey as Wooten's Golden Queens, Inc. offered, continuing the Park family tradition in queen production and beekeeping.
Wooten's Queens & Bees, Inc.
888-565-8439
order@wootensqueensbees.com
wootensqueensbees.com
Amanda Wooten is also listed by the American Beekeeping Federation as a Director representing the Package Bee & Queen Breeders SIG. American Beekeeping Federation Directors & Officers
Hawaiian Queen Co., Inc.
Hawaiian Queen Co., Inc. has provided queens that have performed well for us as gentle, manageable bees. Queen production in Hawaii is also an important genetic resource for beekeepers seeking quality stock produced away from Africanized honey bee populations established in parts of the continental United States. Rebeca @ Hawaiian Queen has been helpful, professional, and responsive, and our experience has been that they stand behind their queens and their customers.
The Foundation of Your Operation Starts with Quality Queen Bees from Hawaiian Queen
Weather and location combined with our Instrumental Insemination Program enable us to offer exceptional queens. Honey production and pollination capabilities are the bottom line in beekeeping and these are the foremost goals of our breeding efforts. In addition, gentle temperament and an over-all rugged bee that "holds up" are of great importance. Hawaii is Africanized bee-free.
Rebeca Krones
Hawaiian Queen Co., Inc.
89-941 Hawaii Belt Rd. | P.O. Box 652
Captain Cook, HI 96704
808-328-2656
www.hawaiianqueen.com
Rebeca Krones also serves as President, Hawaii Bee Breeders Association.
These are only two examples. Queen breeders and bee producers across the country supply commercial and smaller beekeeping operations with replacement queens, selected stock, and starter colonies every year. The Bee Place, for example, has sold roughly 900 starter colonies in a year. That replacement network helps keep managed honey-bee populations available not only for agriculture, but also for smaller beekeepers and communities. As beekeepers face greater pressure to maintain manageable colonies, dependable sources of gentle, productive bees become increasingly important to the future of beekeeping and pollination.
Practical Beekeeping & Safety
The Bee Place Learning Center
The Bee Place has provided practical beekeeper education in South Texas for years. Its online Learning Center includes beginner education, colony-management information, beekeeper safety, and public bee-safety guidance based on commercial and field experience.
The Bee Place and Honey Bee Awareness serve different purposes, but both support responsible beekeeping, practical education, and the preservation of gentle, manageable honey bees.
Beekeeping Publications
American Bee Journal
One of the longstanding publications serving the beekeeping community, with material covering practical beekeeping, industry issues, research, pollination, queen breeding, honey bee health, and perspectives from commercial and hobby beekeepers.
Bee Culture
A longstanding American beekeeping publication covering bee management, pollination, honey plants, pests and diseases, industry developments, research, history, and practical information for beekeepers.
Why dependable breeding stock matters as bees move across the country. The Real Cost of Africanization
The broader management and agricultural consequences.
A Growing Resource
This page will continue to grow as Honey Bee Awareness identifies additional researchers, educators, organizations, publications, queen producers, and practical resources relevant to honey bee health, genetics, pollination, public safety, and responsible stewardship.