Effects of late miticide treatments on foraging and colony productivity of European honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Chemical miticides are used routinely in honey bee colonies worldwide as treatment for the parasitic mite Varroa destructor , but there have been very few long-term colony-level field studies of the impacts of miticides on the bees themselves. Lab-based studies with individual bees or bees in small groups have highlighted many negative effects of miticides on bee behaviour and physiology; hence, there is an urgent need to better understand the consequences of miticides on honey bee colonies in an apicultural setting. Here we compared effects of commercial treatments of the miticides tau-fluvalinate and thymol, and controls, on honey bee colonies and bee foraging behaviour over five months, from autumn through winter in Sydney, Australia. Since V. destructor does not occur in Sydney, in this study, we could isolate the direct effects of the miticides from indirect effects resulting from reduced mite load. We found the autumn treatment of either miticide caused no significant change in bee adult or brood population or size of food stores. The average temperature in the thymol group differed from the temperature in the control group and was lower during winter. Neither miticide reduced bee longevity. Tau-fluvalinate caused bees to start foraging earlier in life and perform shorter trips, but no other effects on foraging behaviour were documented. To conclude, in Sydney, Australia, limited negative effects of autumn thymol or tau-fluvalinate treatments were observed on bees or bee colony performance. miticides / acaricides / Varroa destructor / RFID / continuous weight measurement

Evaluating the foraging performance of individual honey bees in different environments with automated field RFID systems

“…These data were obtained from six healthy control hives with no abnormal levels of pests or diseases, which were used in a study examining the impact of miticides on bees (Colin et al, 2021). They were established in November 2017 at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia, latitude: 33.7679, longitude: 151.1132), with one Apithor trap per hive to prevent hive beetle outbreaks, common in Sydney.…”

“…We provide a comprehensive R code to enable the filtering and analysis of RFID data. We present a large RFID dataset gathered using these tools (from Colin et al, 2021; Colin, Meikle, et al, 2019; and two unpublished datasets). We then quantify the foraging performance of bees and examine whether there is an optimal age of foraging onset.…”

“…RFID technology has been applied to a wide range of bee studies, with a strong focus on investigating the impact of stressors on bees. RFID‐based studies have investigated the effects of pesticides such as neonicotinoids (Colin et al, 2021; Colin, Meikle, et al, 2019; Decourtye et al, 2011; Henry et al, 2012; Hesselbach et al, 2020; Monchanin et al, 2019; Schneider et al, 2012), pathogens such as deformed wing virus and nosema (de Guzman et al, 2017; Dosselli et al, 2016; Lach et al, 2015), modified agricultural environments, climatic conditions (Evans et al, 2019; Gregorc et al, 2012; He et al, 2016), and nutritional preferences and foraging behavior (Bordier et al, 2018; Chang et al, 2015; He et al, 2013; Perry et al, 2015; Søvik et al, 2015).…”

RFID Technology Serving Honey Bee Research: A Comprehensive Description of a 32-Antenna System to Study Honey Bee and Queen Behavior

“…These instances usually cause prolonged exposure of the transponder to the antenna, which is a concern that can be addressed by changing the software reading parameters to "Single Read" or "Oppress Read" for a desirable number of seconds, allowing tagged bees to vacate the scanning field of the antenna. Another challenge reported when using RFID tracking is the loss of the transponder or tag [29]. Transponders are usually fixed on the dorsal thorax segment of the bee using standard super glue.…”

RFID Technology Serving Honey Bee Research: A Comprehensive Description of a 32-Antenna System to Study Honey Bee and Queen Behavior

“…These instances usually cause prolonged exposure of the transponder to the antenna, a concern that can be addressed by changing the software reading parameters to "Single Read" or "Oppress Read" for a desirable number of seconds, allowing tagged bees to vacate the scanning field of the antenna. Another challenge reported when using RFID tracking is the loss of the transponder or tag [22]. Transponders are usually fixed on the dorsal thorax segment of the bee using standard super glue.…”