Whats going on with the honey bees Marla Spivak University of Minnesota

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Whats going on with the honey bees?Marla
Spivak - University of Minnesota
Beekeeping Controlling Pests Sustainably

• Marla Spivak
• University of Minnesota

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Healthy Honey Bee Colony
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Drone
Queen
Worker
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Nectar and Honey
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Pollination

• pollen from male flower deposited on stigma of
  female flower
• nectary at base

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Nutrition
Michael Traynor
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Monoculture vs nutritional diversity
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Neonicotinoid systemic insecticide use
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Varroa destructor a major cause of honey bee
mortality since 1986

• Reduces body weight and longevity
• Suppresses immune system
• Transmits viruses

De Jong et al., 1982, Schneider and Drescher,
1987 Yang and Cox-Foster, 2005
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Varroa has gained the upper hand
Varroa destructor
Apis mellifera
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Simple Beekeeping Economics

• Current price of honey (wholesale)
  0.80-0.90/lb
• Beekeeper with 2,000 colonies, producing 100 lbs/
  colony can gross 180,000
• Current price for renting colony for almond
  pollination 150/colony
• Beekeeper with 2000 colonies can gross 300,000
  during winter

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Almonds

• In 2006, over 550,000 acres of almonds in bloom
• at 2 colonies / acre, growers rented 1.2 million
  colonies of honey bees
• In 2010, 750,000 acres will be in bloom
• almond growers will need more than half of all
  the commercial honey bee colonies in the US

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Recipe for Disaster

• Resistant Varroa mites
• Old wax combs with disease spores and pesticide
  residue
• Reduced forage and DIVERSITY of forage
• Poor bee nutrition
• Crop and urban pesticides
• Depressed honey market
• Increased acreage of almonds,
  blueberries, cranberries, etc
• in pollination contracts
• Increased movement of bees
• Mix well and add.
• New pathogens, new pesticides.

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Whats going on with the honey bees?
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Modern Agriculture
Chemical Companies
Human-centric landscape
Economy
Urban sprawl
International Trade
Food Supply
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What we are doing at the University of Minnesota

• NC-SARE funding since 1997
• Breeding honey bees for resistance to diseases
  and Varroa destructor (MN Hygienic line)
• Developing a Varroa sampling plan to help
  beekeepers make educated treatment decisions

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What is Hygienic Behavior?
Detection and removal of mite-infested brood,
usually AFTER mite has started egg-laying
Detection and removal of diseased brood, BEFORE
disease forms infectious spores
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Hygienic Behavior
Mite offspring killed during removal of infested
worker brood by hygienic bees, so reproductive
success of mites is reduced
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Breeding for hygienic behavior The Minnesota
Hygienic Line

• Only colonies that produced honey and survived MN
  winter are tested the following spring for
  hygienic behavior

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Assay for Hygienic Behavior
Freeze-kill worker pupae, and record time for
colony to uncap and remove dead brood from cells
Colonies that remove dead brood in 24 hr tend to
remove diseased and parasitized brood
SARE Agricultural Innovations-03AGI2005 Fact
Sheet, 2006
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Instrumental Insemination of queen bees to
produce MN Hygienic Line
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Field trials of honey bees bred for Hygienic
Behavior
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Summary of Results

• MN Hygienic colonies are resistant to American
  foulbrood and chalkbrood (fungal disease), and do
  not require antibiotic treatment
• (Spivak and Reuter, 2001a)
• MN Hygienic colonies have significantly lower
  mite loads compared to unselected colonies, and
  produce as much or more honey (Spivak and
  Reuter, 1999, 2001b)

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Another Trait Suppression of Mite Reproduction
(SMR)Low reproduction of mites on worker brood
in colonies selected for SMR (Harbo and Harris,
1999)
What is relationship between Hygienic Behavior
and SMR?
PhD student, Abdullah Ibrahim
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Do SMR bees preferentially remove pupae infested
with reproductive mites, leaving pupae with
non-reproductive mites? i.e., Are they hygienic?
YES
Original drawing by O. Boecking
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Field study SMR and Hyg traits combined
Mites on adult bees
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MN Hygienic line now available commercially and
is widely accepted by beekeeping industry
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Identification of chemical cues that elicit
removal of diseased brood by hygienic honey bees
Jodi Swanson Masters Thesis Funded by NC-SARE
Graduate Student Grant
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Healthy Bees www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees

• Healthy Bees on-line course!
• 25 for 4 year access

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Best Management Practices
Masters student, Katie Lee Funded by NC-SARE
Research Education Grant
Bees Nutrition
Mites Pathogens
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• Develop a standard method to sample the mite
  Varroa destructor in honey bee colonies

Goal Give beekeepers good tools to make educated
treatment decisions
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Propolis and Immune System Antimicrobial Value to
Bees and Humans
Propolis is effective in inhibiting human HIV
virus in CD4 lymphocytes and glial cells from
human brain Gekkar, Peterson, Spivak et al., 2005
J. Ethnopharmacology
Does propolis in nest reduce investment in costly
immune system function?
PhD student, Mike Simone NC-SARE Graduate
Student Grant
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Thank you! NC-SARE National Science
Foundation Rapid Ag Response Fund National Honey
Board Beekeeping Assocs in MN, ND, SD, IA, WI, CA