Environment or beekeeping management: What explains better the prevalence of honey bee colonies with high levels of Varroa destructor?

Varroa destructor Parasitism and Genetic Variability at Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Drone Congregation Areas and Their Associations With Environmental Variables in Argentina

“…No other pathogen has had a comparable impact on honey bee health and colony survival during the history of apiculture (Guzmán-Novoa et al, 2010;Le Conte et al, 2010;Neumann and Carreck, 2010;Francis et al, 2013). The dynamics of V. destructor populations and the impact of mite parasitism in honey bee colonies are influenced by the genotype of the bees (Guzmán-Novoa et al, 1999;Rosenkranz, 1999;Martin and Medina, 2004;Invernizzi et al, 2015;Merke, 2016) and by the environment (Meixner et al, 2015;Giacobino et al, 2017). For example, Africanized bees are more resistant to the Varroa mite than European bees in many South and Central American regions (Martin and Medina, 2004;Mondragón et al, 2005) and in Puerto Rico (Rivera-Marchand et al, 2012).…”

“…Meanwhile, recent research in honey bee populations of European origin demonstrated strong genotype-environment interactions and suggested that the presence of a highly significant environmental effect on Varroa infestation rates may be stronger than the effect of the bees' genotype (Francis et al, 2013;Büchler et al, 2014). In fact, honey bee colony life histories, driven by environmental conditions, have a significant influence on Varroa infestation rates; in consequence, mite infestation thresholds probably vary considerably across localities and regions (Meixner et al, 2015;Giacobino et al, 2017).…”

Grooming Behavior in Naturally Varroa-Resistant Apis mellifera Colonies From North-Central Argentina

“…In addition, analyzing the performance of these colonies under different environments may help to clarify the influence of genotype x environment interactions (Büchler et al, 2014;Meixner et al, 2014) on grooming. It must be noted that this behavior can be influenced by environmental factors (Stanimirovic et al, 2003;Currie and Tahmasbi, 2008) and that Varroa damage thresholds can change under different environmental conditions (Meixner et al, 2014;Giacobino et al, 2017). In this sense, the development of regional breeding programs for mite-resistant honey bees that take advantage of the locally-adapted stocks deserves consideration, especially in Argentina where contrasting eco-regions coexist.…”

Varroosis en abejas melíferas en diferentes condiciones ambientales y regionales de Jalisco, México

“…Estos resultados son similares a los reportados por Anguiano-Baez et al 2016, quienes no encontraron prevalencia significativa en el nivel de infestación por V. destructor en colonias de clima templado (altiplano mexicano) en comparación con colonias de clima tropical (costa de Nayarit) en México, pero se difiere de los resultados reportados por Meixner et al (2015), quienes afirman que la infestación de las colonias de abejas con el ácaro está fuertemente influenciada por el clima. En relación al clima, se sabe que las diferencias entre estudios pueden deberse a múltiples variables como el manejo de las colonias, métodos de control de la varroosis, época del año en que se muestrea y genotipo de las abejas (Medina 1998, Harris et al 2003, Giacobino et al 2017. Además, se encontró alta variación en la prevalencia y niveles de infestación del ácaro dentro y entre municipios de ambas zonas, lo que probablemente no permitió detectar significancia con las variables climáticas y de altitud.…”