Swarming, defensive and hygienic behaviour in honey bee colonies of different genetic origin in a pan-European experiment

Uzunov, Aleksandar; Costa, Cecília; Panasiuk, Beata; Meixner, Marina D.; Kryger, Per; Hatjina, Fani; Bouga, Maria; Andonov, Sreten; Bieńkowska, Małgorzata; Conte, Yves Le; Wilde, J.; Gerula, Dariusz; Kiprijanovska, Hrisula; Filipi, Janja; Petrov, Plamen; Ruottinen, Lauri; Pechhacker, Hermann; Berg, Stefan; Dyrba, Winfried; Ivanova, Evgeniya; Büchler, Ralph

doi:10.3896/ibra.1.53.2.06

Cited by 53 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The removal percentage within 6 h, using the method of brood drilling, ranged from 0 to 82% in A. mellifera unicolor (Rasolofoarivao et al 2015), from 1 to 31% in A. mellifera carnica (Gramacho et al 1998) and from 0 to 100% in Africanized honeybee A. mellifera using a similar protocol (Fries and Raina 2003). HB is strongly influenced by the time at which the tests are carried out (Uzunov et al 2014). A. cerana colonies showed different HB in various ecological habitats (Athreya and Reddy 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hygienic behavior in Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Apidae, Meliponini)

et al. 2017

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Hygienic behavior in stingless bees is a trait of workers that confers colony-level resistance against some brood diseases. Workers of hygienic colonies detect, uncap and remove dead or diseased brood from the nest cells. We examined the hygienic behavior in stingless bees (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides ) from freezekilled brood assay using liquid nitrogen. Responses were measured at 14 times (3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192, 216, 240 and 264 h after freeze-killing of the brood). Workers were estimated to remove on average 65% of larvae and 34% of dead pupae within 48 h of freezing. Workers removed dead brood rapidly after uncapping the cells. Strong colonies showed a greater removal of dead pupae, while the size of the population did not influence the removal of dead larvae. These findings report for the first time the hygienic behavior in M. q. anthidioides and confirm that workers have more difficulty removing pupae compared with larvae from the combs.generalized linear models / stingless bees / hygienic colonies / dead brood removal / freeze-killed brood

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hygienic behavior in Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Apidae, Meliponini)

et al. 2017

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“…Pin-tests in our study were done at two different periods, winter (between April-October, R2) and summer (between November-March, R1 and R3), and a broad panel of climatic conditions and topography were observed in the three regions (Figure 1). Season, relative humidity, and temperature have been shown to influence hygienic success of colonies (Couto and Couto, 2006;Uzunov et al, 2014). HB of the same subspecies (A. cerana indica) was found to differ in various eco habitats (Athreya and Reddy, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing hygienic behavior of Apis mellifera unicolor (Hymenoptera: Apidae), the endemic honey bee from Madagascar

Rasolofoarivao¹,

Delatte²,

Ravaomanarivo³

et al. 2015

Genet. Mol. Res.

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ABSTRACT. Hygienic behavior (HB) is one of the natural mechanisms of honey bee for limiting the spread of brood diseases and Varroa destructor parasitic mite. Objective of our study was to measure HB of Apis mellifera unicolor colonies (N = 403) from three geographic regions (one infested and two free of V. destructor) in Madagascar. The pin-killing method was used for evaluation of the HB. Responses were measured from 3 h 30 min to 7 h after perforation of the cells. Colonies were very effective in detecting perforated cells. In the first 4 h, on average, they detected at least 50% of the pin-killed brood. Six hours after cell perforation, colonies tested (N = 91) showed a wide range of uncapped (0 to 100%) and cleaned cells (0 to 82%). Global distribution of the rate of cleaned cells at 6 h was multimodal and hygienic responses could be split in three classes. Colonies from the three regions showed a significant difference in HB responses. Three hypotheses (geographic, genetic traits, presence of V. destructor) are further discussed to explain variability of HB responses among the regions. Levels of HB efficiency of A. mellifera unicolor colonies are among the greatest levels reported for A. mellifera subspecies. Presence of highly hygienic colonies is a great opportunity for future breeding program in selection for HB.

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“…A recent pan-European experiment testing different subspecies and local hybrids across a variety of environments revealed that locally adapted bees were not only the most long-lived (Büchler et al, 2014), but in many cases also received better scores for docility and productivity (Uzunov et al, 2014a). Conservation efforts have been employed in many countries across Europe (De La Rúa et al, 2009) and typically focus on selective breeding or restricting the bees kept by apiculturists to those native to a specified area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Whole-Genome Sequence Information to Foster Conservation Efforts for the European Dark Honey Bee, Apis mellifera mellifera

et al. 2016

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Pollination is a key ecosystem service for agricultural systems and Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, are the most important managed pollinators. Major losses of managed honey bee colonies reinforced the need to take advantage of locally adapted subspecies and ecotypes to buffer populations against various stressors. However, introductions of non-native honey bees from distant lineages are likely to undermine respective conservation efforts unless reliable and cost effective tools can be used to identify hybridization. The purpose of this study is to characterize current population structure and genetic diversity, and to assess the degree of admixture between native and introduced honey bees. Moreover, we aim to select a reduced number of genetic markers to improve conservation management strategies. We take advantage of recent developments in next-generation sequencing and network-based clustering to investigate conservation efforts for the native European Dark honey bee, A. m. mellifera, which is threatened by introgression in most of its range. We collected whole-genome sequence information from haploid drones of A. m. mellifera, A. m. carnica, and Buckfast sampled throughout Switzerland (N = 81), as well as from four Swiss A. m. mellifera conservation areas (N = 39) and from one conservatory in the French Alps (N = 31). Population structure analyses based upon 3.375 M genome-wide SNPs discerned samples by subspecies and geographic origin (Switzerland or France). Ancestry inference indicated admixed individuals in all of the protected areas, calling for improved management efforts. After testing different subsets of ancestry informative SNPs using three different selection strategies (F ST , PCA-based or at random), as few as 50 SNPs are found to be sufficient to differentiate native from introduced honey bees. Therefore, our data suggests that a low-density SNP panel can be a precise and cost-effective tool to support conservation management efforts for managed pollinators.

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Swarming, defensive and hygienic behaviour in honey bee colonies of different genetic origin in a pan-European experiment

Cited by 53 publications

References 54 publications

Hygienic behavior in Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Apidae, Meliponini)

Hygienic behavior in Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Apidae, Meliponini)

Assessing hygienic behavior of Apis mellifera unicolor (Hymenoptera: Apidae), the endemic honey bee from Madagascar

Using Whole-Genome Sequence Information to Foster Conservation Efforts for the European Dark Honey Bee, Apis mellifera mellifera

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