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

Russo, Romina; Liendo, Marí­a Clara; Landi, Lucas; Pietronave, Hernán; Merke, Julieta; Fain, Hernan Carlos; Muntaabski, Irina; Palacio, Marí­a Alejandra; Rodríguez, Graciela; Lanzavecchia, Silvia Beatriz

doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.590281

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Previous research on grooming behavior and damaged mites in Apis has shown that grooming behavior is a selected trait in naturally mite-resistant colonies (Peng et al, 1987;Boecking and Ritter, 1993;Fries et al, 1996;Arechavaleta-Velasco and Guzmán-Novoa, 2001;Russo et al, 2020). The mite-biting or grooming behavior of honey bees, as a defensive behavior against parasitic Varroa mites, can be used as a parameter to select for Varroa mite resistance in honey bee stocks (Spivak, 1996;Rinderer et al, 2010;Hunt et al, 2016;Pritchard, 2016;Morfin et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological Changes in the Mandibles Accompany the Defensive Behavior of Indiana Mite Biting Honey Bees Against Varroa Destructor

et al. 2021

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The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most important managed pollinator to sustainable agriculture and our ecosystem. Yet managed honey bee colonies in the United States experience 30–40% losses annually. Among the many biotic stressors, the parasitic mite Varroa destructor is considered one of the main causes of colony losses. Bees’ mite-biting behavior has been selected as a Varroa-tolerant or Varroa-resistant trait in the state of Indiana for more than a decade. A survey of damaged mites from the bottom of a colony can be used as an extended phenotype to evaluate the mite-biting behavior of a colony. In this study, on average, 37% of mites sampled from the breeding stocks of 59 colonies of mite biters in Indiana were damaged or mutilated, which is significantly higher than the 19% of damaged mites found in commercial colonies in the southern United States. Indiana mite biter colonies had a higher proportion of damaged mites, although among the damaged mites, the number of missing legs was not significantly higher. In addition, the morphology of pollen-forager worker bee mandibles was compared by X-ray microcomputed tomography for six parameters in two populations, and a difference was detected in one parameter. Our results provide scientific evidence that potentially explains the defensive mechanism against Varroa mites: structural changes in the worker bee mandibles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological Changes in the Mandibles Accompany the Defensive Behavior of Indiana Mite Biting Honey Bees Against Varroa Destructor

et al. 2021

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“…Masaquiza et al (2017) estudiando colonias de abejas africanizadas en Ecuador, encontraron porcentajes de remoción de cría del 76% utilizando el método de pinchado con aguja, método que sobre-estima el comportamiento higiénico de las abejas (Espinosa-Montaño et al, 2008). Por lo anterior, puede concluirse que los resultados encontrados en este trabajo son importantes debido a que la potencial reproducción de genotipos de abejas con alto comportamiento higiénico, contribuye a aumentar la resistencia de las colonias a enfermedades (Guzman-Novoa y Morfin, 2019), lo cual es útil para reducir el uso de antibióticos en la prevención y tratamiento de brotes de enfermedades de la cría; asimismo, las colonias higiénicas tendrían menor cantidad de ácaros de V. destructor que aquellas no seleccionadas (Spivak, 1996) y pudieran ser capaces de mantenerse saludables a pesar de la existencia de colonias infestadas en el mismo apiario (Russo et al, 2020). Adicionalmente a la resistencia a enfermedades y ácaros parasitarios, el comportamiento higiénico de las abejas también ha sido relacionado con un efecto positivo en la producción de miel (Wielewski et al, 2012;Medina-Flores et al, 2014c).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Influencias climáticas, regionales y cantidad de cría en el comportamiento higiénico de Apis mellifera

et al. 2021

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“…Many variables influence V. destructor population growth, including climatic factors and genetic factors of the mites and host bees [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Additionally, infestation rates and V. destructor population growth are affected by reinfestation from drifting bees [42,43].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective Breeding for Low and High Varroa destructor Growth in Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Colonies: Initial Results of Two Generations

Mora

Emsen

Morfin

et al. 2020

Insects

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After two years of bidirectional selection for low and high rates of Varroa destructor population growth (LVG and HVG, respectively) in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in Ontario, Canada, significant differences between the two genotypes were observed. LVG colonies had V. destructor population increases over the summer of 1.7 fold compared to 9.6 fold for HVG colonies by Generation 2. Additionally, HVG colonies had significantly higher mite infestation rates in adult bees compared to LVG colonies for both selected generations. DWV prevalence and levels were significantly higher in HVG colonies than in LVG colonies in Generation 1 but not in Generation 2. Winter mortality rates of Generation 1 colonies were significantly different at 26% and 14% for the HVG and LVG genotypes, respectively. The results of this study thus far indicate that selection for LVG may result in colonies with lower V. destructor infestation rates, lower prevalence, and levels of DWV and higher colony winter survivorship. Future work will focus on determining what mechanisms are responsible for the genotypic differences, estimating genetic parameters, and molecular analyses of the genotypes to identify candidate genes associated with resistance to V. destructor and DWV that could potentially be used for marker-assisted selection.

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

Cited by 28 publications

References 91 publications

Morphological Changes in the Mandibles Accompany the Defensive Behavior of Indiana Mite Biting Honey Bees Against Varroa Destructor

Morphological Changes in the Mandibles Accompany the Defensive Behavior of Indiana Mite Biting Honey Bees Against Varroa Destructor

Influencias climáticas, regionales y cantidad de cría en el comportamiento higiénico de Apis mellifera

Selective Breeding for Low and High Varroa destructor Growth in Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Colonies: Initial Results of Two Generations

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