A study, published Dec. 12 in PLOS One, describes for the first time – and documents with video footage – how Varroa mites can nimbly jump from flowers onto bees.
The finding is important because Varroa mites are linked with massive honeybee colony deaths, as they infest nursery cells in honeybee nests and feed on developing bees while also transferring deadly viruses.
Overall, it can be concluded that based on the results of this large-scale monitoring study, clothianidin-dressed oilseed rape did not cause any detrimental effects on the three representative bee species.
Varroa destructor, the introduced parasite of European honey bees associated with massive colony deaths, spreads readily through populations of honey bee colonies, both managed colonies living crowded together in apiaries and wild colonies living widely dispersed in natural settings. Mites are hypothesized to spread between most managed colonies via phoretically riding forager bees when they engage in robbing colonies or they drift between hives. However, widely spaced wild colonies show Varroa infestation despite limited opportunities for robbing and little or no drifting of bees between colonies. Both wild and managed colonies may also exchange mites via another mechanism that has received remarkably little attention or study: floral transmission. The present study tested the ability of mites to infest foragers at feeders or flowers. We show that Varroa destructor mites are highly capable of phoretically infesting foraging honey bees, detail the mechanisms and maneuvers by which they do so, and describe mite behaviors post-infestation.
Jon Entine, GLP director, will be holding a Science “Ask Me Anything” entitled Pesticides, Bees and Pollinator Health on Tuesday, December 13, 2016, between 2 pm and 4 pm ET. Questions can be submitted by visiting the AMA at the Reddit Science page at: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5i3dfr/science_ama_series_im_jon_entine_executive/
Hi Reddit! I’m Jon Entine, a science journalist and founder of the Genetic Literacy Project and Epigenetics Literacy Project (501c3 as the Science Literacy Project), which cover the intersection of human genetics and agricultural sciences with public policy.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A sister species of the Varroa destructor mite is developing the ability to parasitize European honeybees, threatening pollinators already hard pressed by pesticides, nutritional deficiencies and disease, a Purdue University study said.
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To bee researchers, it’s a grimly familiar story: V. destructor made the same host leap at least 60 years ago, spreading rapidly to become the most important global health threat to European honeybees.
Nancy Kavazanjian and Jay Hill | Nancy, with Hammer and Kavazanjian Farms, is a corn, soybean and wheat farmer. Jay, with Hill Farms, is a vegetable, nut and beef farmer.
ENVIRONMENT – Will bees win against mites? This long-term battle is on the way to finding a way out, revealed Thursday December 8 at the Anses International Scientific Meeting on Bee Health.
Scientists are now in agreement that we are not facing a beepocalypse as many in the media have been maintaining. Bee populations aren’t declining; they’re rising. According to statistics kept by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, honeybee populations in the United States, Canada and Europe have been stable or growing for the two decades
The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is considered public enemy number one to honey bees nationwide. The parasite feeds on the blood of adult bees and their brood, weakening them and endangering the entire hive when infestations become severe. But the mite also poses an indirect threat to more than 90 flowering crops that depend on bee pollination, including almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, and cantaloupes.
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The researchers’ investigations in North Dakota this summer will follow up on their leading theory to explain this phenomenon, dubbed “mite migration.” It holds that Varroa mites move among colonies by attaching to forager bees.
