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.
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TL;DR: There have been very few studies on hygienic behaviour as a mechanism of resistance to American foulbrood since Park, Woodrow, Rothenbuhler, and Rothen buhler's students published their seminal work.
Abstract: There have been very few studies on hygienic behaviour as a mechanism of resistance to American foulbrood since Park, Woodrow, Rothenbuhler, and Rothenbuhler's students published their seminal work...
158 citations
TL;DR: By targeting the reproductive mites, bees with the SMR trait give the illusion that nearly all of the mites are non-reproductive, therefore, selection for a low frequency of reproductivemites may have produced bees that remove reproductive mite populations from capped brood.
Abstract: SUMMARYSuppressed mite reproduction (SMR) is a heritable trait of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) that can control the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor. The purpose of this study was to determine whether adult bees with the SMR trait affect mites in brood after cells are capped. Colonies with or without the SMR trait were each given a comb of newly-capped worker brood that was naturally infested with varroa. Each of 7 source colonies provided a comb of brood to at least one SMR (n = 9) and one control colony (n = 8). These combs were removed from their host colonies 8 days later and mite populations evaluated in cells with bee pupae that were >8 days post-capping. Colonies with SMR bees averaged 2.2% of their cells infested with mites; controls averaged 9.0%. Therefore, bees with the SMR trait apparently removed mites from capped cells. Of the mites that remained, the SMR colonies had a much lower rate of reproductive mites, 20% vs. 71%. This suggests that bees with the SMR trait removed reproductive mite...
157 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that other factors besides Varroa mite infestation may be important to the development and maintenance of damaging DWV titers in colonies, and possible biochemical explanations for the observed synergistic effects between tau-fluvalinate and virus infections are discussed.
Abstract: Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are declining, and a number of stressors have been identified that affect, alone or in combination, the health of honey bees. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, honey bee viruses that are often closely associated with the mite, and pesticides used to control the mite population form a complex system of stressors that may affect honey bee health in different ways. During an acaricide treatment using Apistan (plastic strips coated with tau-fluvalinate), we analyzed the infection dynamics of deformed wing virus (DWV), sacbrood virus (SBV), and black queen cell virus (BQCV) in adult bees, mite-infested pupae, their associated Varroa mites, and uninfested pupae, comparing these to similar samples from untreated control colonies. Titers of DWV increased initially with the onset of the acaricide application and then slightly decreased progressively coinciding with the removal of the Varroa mite infestation. This initial increase in DWV titers suggests a physiological effect of tau-fluvalinate on the host's susceptibility to viral infection. DWV titers in adult bees and uninfested pupae remained higher in treated colonies than in untreated colonies. The titers of SBV and BQCV did not show any direct relationship with mite infestation and showed a variety of possible effects of the acaricide treatment. The results indicate that other factors besides Varroa mite infestation may be important to the development and maintenance of damaging DWV titers in colonies. Possible biochemical explanations for the observed synergistic effects between tau-fluvalinate and virus infections are discussed.
149 citations
TL;DR: This review synthesizes the work on naturally occurring survival to Varroa mites and discusses what these honeybee populations can signify for apiculture.
Abstract: The Varroa destructor mite is the largest threat to apiculture worldwide and has been responsible for devastating losses of wild honeybee populations in Europe and North America. However, Varroa mite-resistant populations of A. mellifera honeybees have been reported and documented around the world with a variety of explanations for their long-term survival with uncontrolled mite infestation. This review synthesizes the work on naturally occurring survival to Varroa mites and discusses what these honeybee populations can signify for apiculture.
144 citations