Topic
Varroa sensitive hygiene
About: Varroa sensitive hygiene is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 24928 citations. The topic is also known as: VSH.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, single-use cages for honey bee experiments were proposed. But the cage design was not considered in this paper, and the cage was not tested in the experiments.
Abstract: (2009). Bee cups: single-use cages for honey bee experiments. Journal of Apicultural Research: Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 300-302.
96 citations
TL;DR: Comparison of the removal of infested brood by VSH and control bees to determine whether VSH bees removed infested pupae of different ages at similar rates found that removal ofinfested pupAE may be triggered by stimuli in cells with pupae aged 3–5 days post capping.
Abstract: *Summary Suppressed Mite Reproduction (SMR) is a trait of honey bees that provides resistance to Varroa destructor. The mechanism of resistance in SMR bees is the removal of infested pupae from capped brood, so a better name is VSH bees (acronym for Varroa Sensitive Hygiene). This study compared the removal of infested brood by VSH and control bees to determine whether VSH bees removed infested pupae of different ages at similar rates. A pair of infested combs containing all stages of pupae were transferred into each host colony (six VSH and six control colonies) for 40 hours. VSH bees removed significantly more (55%) infested cells (singly and multiply infested), than controls (13%). They removed significantly more (66%) singly infested pupae aged from one to five days post capping (cohort A) than did controls (16%). The two types did not differ in the removal of singly infested pupae aged five to 10 days post capping (cohort B) (5‐22%). Many pupae were found in uncapped cells at the end of the test, and most of the uncapped pupae were infested with mites. None of the uncapped cells contained prepupae, the development stage occurring during the first three days post capping. Thus, removal of infested pupae may be triggered by stimuli in cells with pupae aged 3‐5 days post capping.
95 citations
TL;DR: The results of this study strongly suggest that grooming behavior and the intensity with which bees perform it, is an important component in the resistance of some honey bee genotypes to the growth of varroa mite populations.
93 citations
TL;DR: This study showed that resistance to varroa mites is present in the honey bee population in the United States, nonreproduction of mites was highly correlated with the growth of a mite population, and nonreproducing mites may be a valuable characteristic for selecting bees for resistance tovarroamites.
Abstract: The purposes of this study were to select honey bees, Apis Mellifera L., for resistance to varroa mites, Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans, and to find a probable cause for this resistance. As a genetic source, we assembled 8 colonies that we thought had potential for resistance to varroa. Queens and drones were propagated from this group to produce 43 instrumentally inseminated queens, each queen mated to only 1 drone. Colonies from 27 of these queens were tested in Louisiana and 16 were tested in Michigan. Each colony in the Louisiana test began with 986 ± 13 g (mean ± SD) of bees and =290 mites; Michigan colonies began with 3,212 ± 171 bees and =51 mites. The populations of mites and bees were measured 10 wk later. Three of the 43 colonies had fewer mites at the end of the test than at the beginning. During the experiment, we evaluated each colony for grooming behavior, hygienic behavior, the duration of the postcapping period, and the frequency of nonreproducing mites in brood cells. of these 4 characteristics, only nonreproduction of mites was highly related to a change in the mite population. The duration of the postcapping period was marginally related, and the other 2 characteristics were apparently unrelated to the growth of the mite population. This study showed that resistance to varroa mites is present in the honey bee population in the United States, nonreproduction of mites was highly correlated with the growth of a mite population, and nonreproduction of mites may be a valuable characteristic for selecting bees for resistance to varroa mites.
92 citations
TL;DR: The number of nests produced, number of eggs per nest and emerging progeny mass of H. alcyoneus was 23% less at treatment sites than control sites, highlighting that even though honey bees have been present in certain areas for many years, competition with native bees may still be occurring.
91 citations