Resistance to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in honey bees from far-eastern Russia

Abstract

International audienceVarroa destructor is a parasitic mite of the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana. Owing to host range expansion, it now plagues Apis mellifera, the world's principal crop pollinator and honey producer. Evidence from A. mellifera in far-eastern Russia, Primorsky (P) originating from honey bees imported in the mid 1800's, suggested that many colonies were resistant to V. destructor. A controlled field study of the development of populations of V. destructor shows that P colonies have a strong, genetically based resistance to the parasite. As control colonies (D) were dying with infestations of ca. 10000 mites, P colonies were surviving with infestations of ca. 4000 mites. Several characteristics of the P bees contributed to suppressing the number of mites parasitizing their colonies

Relationship between dead pupa removal and season and productivity of honey bee (Apis mellifera, Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies

“…pupae removal rate was recorded in the second (June), third (July), and fifth (September) applications, the lowest was in the first (May) and fourth (August) applications. Many researchers reported that the level of hygienic behaviour showed variability depending on the subspecies of honey bee and colonies in the same apiary (1,3,6,11,28). For that reason, this behaviour has to be evaluated as a skill arising from genetic differences (2,14,29).…”

“…Nearly 10%-12% of the colonies forming many honey bee populations demonstrate hygienic behaviour (3) and there have been differences in hygienic behaviour among colonies of the same subspecies and in the same apiary (4). Spivak and Gilliam (5) estimated that only 10% of honey bee colonies in the United States are hygienic.…”

The effect of the ‘Bee Gym™’ grooming device on Varroa destructor mite fall from honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

“…Evidence for this has been shown both at the colony level (Arechavaleta-Velasco & Guzmán-Novoa, 2001;Guzmán-Novoa, Emsen, Unger, Espinosa-Montaño, & Petukhova, 2012;Mondragó n, Spivak, & Vandame, 2005;Rinderer et al, 2001) and through assays inoculating individual bees with mites (Aumeier, 2001;Büchler, Drescher, & Tornier, 1992;Fries, Huazhen, Wei, & Jin, 1996;Guzmán-Novoa et al, 2012;Peng, Fang, Xu, & Ge, 1987). These are reviewed in detail by Rinderer et al (2013), and also see Pritchard (2016).…”

“…They also act as vectors for several bee viruses (e.g., Bowen-Walker, Martin, & Gunn, 1999). These detrimental effects may act synergistically with other stressors and, without management, the majority of V. destructor-infested colonies will collapse (Guzmán-Novoa et al, 2010;Le Conte, Ellis, & Ritter, 2010;Rinderer et al, 2001).…”

“…Some A. mellifera strains are resistant to the mites (Martin & Medina, 2004;Rinderer et al, 2001) giving hope for alternative approaches to managing V. destructor. Two behavioral traits have been identified that may contribute to the resistance: Varroa-sensitive hygiene and grooming (Boecking & Spivak, 1999;Rinderer, Harris, Hunt, & de Guzman, 2010).…”