Thymol

thymolbehandlung_20170128

In the 1990s, the Bee Research Centre took part in a screening programme testing the potential effectiveness of over 100 essential oils and essential oil components against the varroa mite. Although sage, hyssop and thyme oils proved interesting, only thymol has been used in acaricide products. Thymol treatments require little effort, and there are a variety of preparations on the market. The advantages and drawbacks of thymol use are listed in the articles "Apilife VAR: A new varroacide with thymol as the main ingredient" and "THYMOVAR for Varroa control".

Use of essential oils for the control of Varroa jacobsoni (Oud.) in honey bee colonies (PDF, 1 MB, 20.01.2017)
A. Imdorf, S. Bogdanov, R. Ibáñez Ochoa, N. W. Calderone (1999)

Publication List

Publication List

Publications Noëlle Klein

Hu R., Klein N., Herzog F., Jan B., Zheng H., Wang L.
Vegetation structure of farmland ditches and its role in promoting bird diversity.
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 389, 2025, Article 109711.

Klein N., Adde A., Grêt-Regamey A., Guisan A., Herzog F., Jeanneret P., Kay S.
Identifying focus zones for the conservation and promotion of priority birds in Swiss farmland.
Conservation Science and Practice, 7, (1), 2025, Article e13286.

Bystricky M., Mack G., Gaillard G., Herzog F., Irek J., Jeanneret P., Kaiser A., Klein N., Pedolin D., Ritzel C., Wang Y., El Benni N.
Evaluation agrarpolitischer Massnahmen bezüglich Biodiversitätswirkung: Versorgungssicherheitsbeiträge und Grenzschutz.
Agroscope Science, 187, 2024.

Suškevičs M., Kraner K., Bethwell C., Danzinger F., Kay S., Nishizawa T., Schuler J., Sepp K., Värnik R., Glemnitz M., Semm M., Umstätter C., Conradt T., Herzog F., Klein N. and others
Stakeholder perceptions of agricultural landscape services, biodiversity, and drivers of change in four European case studies.
Ecosystem Services, 64, 2023, 1-17.

Nishizawa T., Kay S., Schuler J., Klein N., Conradt T., Mielewczik M., Herzog F., Aurbacher J., Zander P.
Towards diverse agricultural land uses: Socio-ecological implications of European agricultural pathways for a Swiss orchard region.
Regional Environmental Change, 23, 2023.

Klein N., Herzog F., Jeanneret P., Kay S.
Validating farmland biodiversity life cycle assessment at the landscape scale.
Environmental Science & Technology, 57, (25), 2023, 9184-9193.

Klein N., Grêt-Regamey A., Herzog F., Van Strien M., Kay S.
A multi-scale analysis on the importance of patch-surroundings for farmland birds.
Ecological Indicators, 150, 2023, 1-10.

Nishizawa T., Kay S., Schuler J., Klein N., Herzog F., Aurbacher J., Zander P.
Ecological–Economic Modelling of Traditional Agroforestry to Promote Farmland Biodiversity with Cost-Effective Payments.
Sustainability, 14, (9), 2022, 1-21.

Nishizawa T., Kay S., Klein N., Schuler J., Zander P., Herzog F.
Integrated model-based investigation of farm management options and measures to improve biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in north-western Switzerland.
In: LANDSCAPE 2021 – Diversity for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture, Book of Abstracts. 20–22 September, Publ. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Online Conference. 2021, 173.

Klein N., Theux C., Arlettaz R., Jacot A., Pradervand J.N.
Modeling the effects of grassland management intensity on biodiversity.
Ecology and Evolution, 10, (23), 2020, 13518-13529.

Apilife VAR: A new varroacide with thymol as the main ingredient (PDF, 103 kB, 20.01.2017)
A. Imdorf, S. Bogdanov, V. Kilchenmann, C. Maquelin (1994)

"THYMOVAR" for Varroa control (PDF, 75 kB, 27.01.2017)
F. Bollhalder (1998)


Although the use of thymol leads to residues in the wax and honey, these are negligible from a toxicological viewpoint. Since about 2008 the use of thymol-based products has been declining in Switzerland, and beekeepers making use of these products have tended to experience greater winter losses than those using e.g. formic acid.

Thymol residues in wax and honey after Apilife VAR treatment (PDF, 757 kB, 14.09.2016)
S. Bogdanov, A. Imdorf, V. Kilchenmann (1998) 

https://www.agroscope.admin.ch/content/agroscope/en/home/themen/nutztiere/bienen/bienenkrankheiten/varroa/varroa-bekaempfung/thymol.exturl.html/aHR0cHM6Ly9pcmEuYWdyb3Njb3BlLmNoL2VuLVVTL1BhZ2UvUH/VibGlrYXRpb25zbGlzdGUvSW5kZXhNaXRhcmJlaXRlcj9hZ3Jv/c2NvcGVJZD0yMTE5OSZpc0RhdGVuUHVibGlrYXRpb25zbGlzdG/U9RmFsc2U=.html