Pollinators are a key component of global biodiversity, providing vital ecosystem services to crops and wild plants. There is clear evidence of recent declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in the plants that rely upon them. Here we describe the nature and extent of reported declines, and review the potential drivers of pollinator loss, including habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, climate change and the interactions between them. Pollinator declines can result in loss of pollination services which have important negative ecological and economic impacts that could significantly affect the maintenance of wild plant diversity, wider ecosystem stability, crop production, food security and human welfare.

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Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers.

http://www.tsusinvasives.org/dotAsset/3b275f2a-205c-4012-b48a-038a13dddf8f.pdf

Biology and control of Varroa destructor

Background: Recent declines in honey bees for crop pollination threaten fruit, nut, vegetable and seed production in the United States. A broad survey of pesticide residues was conducted on samples from migratory and other beekeepers across 23 states, one Canadian province and several agricultural cropping systems during the 2007–08 growing seasons. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have used LC/MS-MS and GC/MS to analyze bees and hive matrices for pesticide residues utilizing a modified QuEChERS method. We have found 121 different pesticides and metabolites within 887 wax, pollen, bee and associated hive samples. Almost 60% of the 259 wax and 350 pollen samples contained at least one systemic pesticide, and over 47% had both in-hive acaricides fluvalinate and coumaphos, and chlorothalonil, a widely-used fungicide. In bee pollen were found chlorothalonil at levels up to 99 ppm and the insecticides aldicarb, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and imidacloprid, fungicides boscalid, captan and myclobutanil, and herbicide pendimethalin at 1 ppm levels. Almost all comb and foundation wax samples (98%) were contaminated with up to 204 and 94 ppm, respectively, of fluvalinate and coumaphos, and lower amounts of amitraz degradates and chlorothalonil, with an average of 6 pesticide detections per sample and a high of 39. There were fewer pesticides found in adults and brood except for those linked with bee kills by permethrin (20 ppm) and fipronil (3.1 ppm). Conclusions/Significance: The 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in mixtures up to 214 ppm in bee pollen alone represents a remarkably high level for toxicants in the brood and adult food of this primary pollinator. This represents over half of the maximum individual pesticide incidences ever reported for apiaries. While exposure to many of these neurotoxicants elicits acute and sublethal reductions in honey bee fitness, the effects of these materials in combinations and their direct association with CCD or declining bee health remains to be determined.

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High levels of miticides and agrochemicals in North American apiaries: implications for honey bee health.

A historical review of managed honey bee populations in Europe and the United States and the factors that may affect them.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/1076061/file/1076072.pdf

Acaricide resistance mechanisms in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae and other important Acari: A review

Small hive beetles, Aethina tumida, are honeybee parasites native to Africa, where they are a minor pest only. In contrast, the beetles can be harmful parasites of European honeybee subspecies. Resistance of African subspecies to infestations is probably due to quantitative differences in a series of behaviours such as absconding, aggression, removal of parasite eggs and larvae and social encapsulation. The beetles use counter-resistance tactics such as defence posture, dropping, hiding, escape, egg laying in small gaps and trophallactic mimicry. Small hive beetles are efficient in long-range transportation (US: 1996, Australia: 2002) and can establish populations in temperate regions due to their overwintering capacity in honeybee clusters. Host shifts to other bee species may also occur. Thus, small hive beetles have the potential to become a global threat to apiculture and wild bee populations. However, our knowledge of the small hive beetle is still limited, creating demand for more research in all areas of its biology.

/pdf/the-biology-of-the-small-hive-beetle-aethina-tumida-2abqp7i85p.pdf

The biology of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida, Coleoptera: Nitidulidae): Gaps in our knowledge of an invasive species

We conducted laboratory tests investigating the mortality of mites infesting honey bee colonies in Minnesota after exposure to fluvalinate, amitraz, or coumaphos. Results indicated that these mites were not only resistant to fluvalinate, but also to amitraz. Coumaphos was effective against these resistant mites. A separate field trial was conducted with the same hives as those used in the laboratory test. The field trial supported the laboratory results, showing that mites in Minnesota are resistant to both fluvalinate and amitraz, and that coumaphos is effective in controlling these mites. This represents the first known reported case of amitraz resistance in Varroa jacobsoni in the U.S.A.

/pdf/control-of-varroa-jacobsoni-oud-resistant-to-fluvalinate-and-3rb9obtgca.pdf

Control of Varroa jacobsoni Oud. resistant to fluvalinate and amitraz using coumaphos

Fluvalinate resistance in Varroa jacobsoni from several geographic locations

La forme adulte d'Aethina tumida, ou petit coleoptere de la ruche, a ete enregistree officiellement en 1998 dans les etats de Floride, Georgie, Caroline du Nord et Caroline du Sud. Nous avons lance des etudes sur le terrain et au laboratoire concernant la lutte et la biologie de ce nouvel ennemi des abeilles. Nous avons utilise un piege constitue d'un carre de carton ondule (15 cm x 15 cm), dont l'une des faces a ete otee. Des bandelettes en plastique impregnees d'une solution de coumaphos a 10 % ont ete agrafees sous la face ondulee et le tout a ete fixe sur le plancher des ruches. Les etudes de terrain ont montre que ce dispositif permettait de tuer jusqu'a 90,2% des adultes et jusqu'a 94,2 % des larves (tableau I). L'alimentation des adultes sur le couvain d'abeilles a ete etudiee au laboratoire. Sur une periode de 24 h les adultes ont consomme tous les oeufs d'abeilles presents, meme si du miel et du pollen leur etait fourni en exces. Dans les etudes de terrain sur l'attractivite des odeurs de la ruche vis-a-vis des adultes en vol, les odeurs combinees des produits de la ruche et des abeilles adultes se sont montrees les plus attractives (tableau III). Les produits de la ruche seuls et les abeilles adultes seules n'ont pas presente d'attraction significative. Des pistes de recherche sur la lutte biologique et les pheromones d'agregation sont proposees.

/pdf/field-control-and-biology-studies-of-a-new-pest-species-37g55bzrhs.pdf

Field control and biology studies of a new pest species, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae), attacking European honey bees in the Western Hemisphere

Populations of Varroa jacobsoni Oud. from three geographic regions of the United States were assayed for resistance to fluvalinate. A bioassay using a discriminating concentration estimated to cause approximately 80-90 % mortality in a fluvalinate-susceptible strain of V. jacobsoni was used to compare percent mortalities between locations. An average of 73.3 % mortality was seen in two additional operations in Texas, not significantly less than the susceptible strain. An average of 23.7 % mortality was found for mites tested in Florida that had originated from field control failures; Florida test mortality was significantly less than that of the susceptible strain. An average of 65.1 % mortality was found for mites tested in California, also significantly less than mortality of suscepti- ble mites. However, no field control failures were reported for the mites tested in California. © Inra/DIB/AGIB/Elsevier, Paris

/pdf/detection-of-resistance-in-us-varroa-jacobsoni-oud-2bxivnrub3.pdf

Patti J. Elzen

Papers

The biology of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida, Coleoptera: Nitidulidae): Gaps in our knowledge of an invasive species

Control of Varroa jacobsoni Oud. resistant to fluvalinate and amitraz using coumaphos

Fluvalinate resistance in Varroa jacobsoni from several geographic locations

Field control and biology studies of a new pest species, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae), attacking European honey bees in the Western Hemisphere

Detection of resistance in US Varroa jacobsoni Oud. (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) to the acaricide fluvalinate