No description available.

Excessive honey bee colony losses all over the world are believed to be caused by multiple stressors. In this thesis, I characterized and quantified pathogen levels in honey bee colonies, studied their interactions with each other and with their associated parasite vectors, examined factors that influence their combined impacts on honey bees and developed methods to manage honey bee viruses so that colony losses can be minimized. My baseline study of virus prevalence and concentration in healthy and unhealthy (showing visible signs of disease) colonies in Canada showed that seven economically important viruses (DWV, BQCV, IAPV, KBV, SBV, ABPV, and CBPV) were all widely distributed in Canada. Differences in concentration and prevalence of some viruses were found between unhealthy and healthy colonies but these differences may have been due in part to seasonal or regional effects. Studies of the impact of viruses on worker bee populations over winter showed different factors were correlated with bee loss in different environments. Spring concentrations of DWV and mean abundance of Varroa (Varroa destructor) were positively correlated with bee loss and negatively correlated with spring population size in outdoor-wintered colonies. Fall concentration of IAPV was negatively correlated with spring population size of colonies in indoor-wintering environments but not in outdoor-environments. My study showed that it is important to consider location of sampling when associating pathogen loads with bee loss with Nosema and BQCV. Seasonal patterns of parasites and pathogens were characterized for each wintering methods (indoor and outdoor). My results revealed lower ABPV and Nosema ceranae prevalence and lower DWV concentration in genetically diverse than genetically similar colonies. I showed that within colony genetic diversity may be an important evolutionary adaptation to allow honey bees to defend against a wide range of diseases. In laboratory studies, I showed that feeding DWV to larvae in the absence of Varroa causes wing deformity and decreased survival rates of adult bees relative to bees not fed DWV. Finally, I showed that RNA silencing can be used to reduce DWV concentrations in immature and adult bees, reduce wing deformity in emerging adults, and increase their longevity relative to controls.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed May 8, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-110).

Neonicotinoid exposure has been recognised as potentially impacting upon bee health, but whether realistic exposure scenarios are driving declines in bee health is not known. This thesis contributes new insights and perspectives to this research field investigating the use of molecular, physiological and behavioural endpoints as potential ecotoxicological markers for pesticide risk assessment. The thesis presents experimental data for dietary exposures of the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the buff-tailed bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, to one of two neonicotinoid pesticides, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. The first part of this thesis explores impacts of chronic dietary exposures to neonicotinoid pesticides on bee immunocompetence- the ability to mount an immune response- using an artificial challenge to invoke an immune response in adult workers. Levels of phenoloxidase, an enzyme involved in melanisation and part of the bee’s defence system, were largely constitutive and resilient to exposure in honey bees and bumble bees. In honey bees, transient transcriptional changes in antimicrobial effector genes were observed following neonicotinoid exposure, but the physiological antimicrobial response was unaffected. In bumble bees, the induced antimicrobial response was impaired following neonicotinoid exposure, but only when exposed to concentrations likely higher than realistic environmental exposure scenarios. The next phase of this thesis investigates whether transcriptional, physiological and behavioural endpoints associated with the functioning of the honey bee hypopharyngeal gland were altered by imidacloprid exposure. Imidacloprid exposure led to transcriptional changes in foraging genes (associated with the control of temporal polyethism) and major royal jelly proteins (fed to developing larvae by nurse workers) and enzymatic changes in glucose oxidase (an enzyme involved in social immunity), which I hypothesise are linked with hypopharyngeal gland development. Despite these laboratory observations, no behavioural effects were observed in a field setting, monitored using Radio Frequency Identification transponders. Lastly, using RNA-Sequencing to investigate changes across the honey bee transcriptome, this thesis identified a suite of genes that were differentially expressed in adult workers in response to immune challenge and/or dietary neonicotinoid exposure. Wounding and bacterial-like infection led to upregulation of known immune genes, including a peptidoglycan recognition protein and antimicrobial effectors. Chronic exposure to thiamethoxam and imidacloprid led to downregulation of genes associated with several metabolic pathways, such as oxidative phosphorylation, pyruvate- and purine- metabolic pathways, as well as ribosomal activity. Some of these genes identified provide candidates for further study to elucidate functional effects mechanisms and better understand health outcomes, as well as potential new biomarkers for use in pesticide risk assessment. This thesis presents novel findings and offers opportunities for future research that will be of interest to a wide audience, including risk assessors and policy makers, as well as the broader biological community, including ecotoxicologists, insect physiologists and molecular biologists.

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / Apis mellifera (honey bees) are essential pollinators and thus considered a keystone species. Reproductive success is therefore important to the survival of the species, with drone sperm quality playing a vital role in fertilization success and colony health. Drone sperm quality is determined by multiple aspects including both structural and functional parameters. Particularly, motility, a functional parameter of sperm, plays an important role in reproductive success by determining the ability of sperm to move in the reproductive tract of the queen and to participate in fertilization. However, for the South African honey bee subspecies, the Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis Escholtz), data on sperm quality parameters, are lacking. / 2023

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) may serve as bioindicators of habitat quality for themselves and also other insect pollinators because we can observe, decode, map, and analyze the information encoded in the waggle dance communication behavior, which allows us to know where and when bees are collecting high quality forage. Previously we measured honey bee foraging dynamics for two years (2018-2019) by waggle dance decoding at three geographically distanced sites in Virginia (Blacksburg, Winchester, Suffolk), consisting of different dominant landcover types. Here we use those data on where and when honey bees were finding profitable resources throughout the season to predict the success of a non-Apis bee in these same landscapes. Alfalfa leafcutting bees (Megachile rotundata) are managed, polylectic, solitary, cavity-nesting bees that are widely naturalized in North America. We selected M. rotundata as a model organism to validate the honey bee foraging data because they share some characteristics with other cavity nesting wild bees, but they are a tractable study system because they are commercially reared and can be purchased for study. At each of the three sites, we installed 15 nest box stations, each stocked with nesting materials and 160 M. rotundata cocoons, at varying distances and directions from the original honey bee hive locations. Most importantly, nest box stations were distributed across a range of honey bee foraging propensities, calculated as the mean foraging probability determined from our honey bee waggle dance decoding data, within a 300m buffer around each nest box. We hypothesized that honey bee foraging probability would positively correlate with M. rotundata cocoon production and survival. For two years (2021-2022) from May-August, we monitored the nest boxes and also collected data on the relative abundance of floral resources at each of the 15 stations per site. At the end of each season, we collected nesting materials and counted both M. rotundata along with incidental (i.e., non-M. rotundata) wild bee cocoons. M. rotundata cocoon productivity varied by location (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 311.0, df = 2, p < 0.001), with Winchester as the most productive location (mean cocoon count (95% CI): 26.2 (23.7 to 28.9)), followed by Blacksburg (20.4 (18.2 to 22.9)), and Suffolk (4.4 (3.5 to 5.5)). The abundance of clover, both red and white, had a significant positive effect on ALCB productivity (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 778.36, < 0.001). On the other hand, the number of ALCB cocoons decreased significantly with the count of Trypoxylon wasp cocoons present in the nest boxes (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 54.37, < 0.001). Most importantly, we found that there was an overall negative relationship between honey bee foraging probability and alfalfa leafcutting bee cocoon productivity ((log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 55.42, < 0.001), where areas of higher honey bee foraging probability were associated with lower levels of alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity. This surprising result is in the opposite direction to our original hypothesis that preferred honey bee foraging areas in the landscape, as indicated by decoded waggle dance data, would be positively correlated with alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity. These data demonstrate that while honey bees may indeed act as bioindicators to other insect pollinators, this indication will likely be species and context specific and may even specify the opposite direction. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / Recent challenges facing the beekeeping industry have laid bare the fragility of honey bee pollination services, highlighted the role of other bee pollinators, and sparked widespread concern over the effect of declining bee populations on food security and continued ecosystem function and services. Both honey bees and wild bees face similar challenges including pesticides, parasites, pests, and poor nutrition from a lack of flowers in the landscape. Therefore, it is critical that we develop methods to evaluate the landscape's ability to feed bees in order to help them and other pollinators continue providing essential pollination services. There are many ways to measure the quality of a landscape for pollinators, but honey bees offer a unique opportunity to do the work for us: honey bees communicate the location of where they find food to their nestmates through a behavior called the waggle dance. Waggle dances can be observed and the dance language decoded so that we can determine the location of high-quality food sources. Previously, we used honey bee waggle dance data to map where bees are collecting food in three geographically distinct sites (Blacksburg, Winchester, and Suffolk, Virginia). These data allow us to understand where, when, and on what flowers the honey bees were feeding. The goal of this project was to investigate the relationship between honey bee foraging and non-honey bee success across the same three landscapes to determine if honey bees can be used as bioindicators of habitat quality for other bees. We chose Alfalfa leafcutting bees (Megachile rotundata) as a model organism because they are solitary, cavity-nesting bees, like the majority of wild bees. However, as managed pollinators, Alfalfa leafcutting bees (ALCBs) can be purchased commercially and retained in nesting boxes to allow us to gather productivity and survival data, which we can then compare to what the dancing honey bees previously told us about where and when they can collect good food. We hypothesized that areas of the landscape that honey bees had indicated where higher quality would correlate to better ALCB cocoon production and survival. We placed wooden nest boxes, 15 per site, stocked with ALCBs across the same landscapes for which honey bee data had been collected in the previous years and measured their productivity in terms of cocoons produced at each site. ALCB productivity varied by location, with Winchester as the most productive location (mean ALCB count (95% CI): 26.2 (23.7 to 28.9)), followed by Blacksburg (20.4 (18.2 to 22.9)), and Suffolk (4.4 (3.5 to 5.5)). The abundance of clover, both red and white, had a significant positive effect on ALCB productivity (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 778.36, < 0.001). On the other hand, the number of ALCB cocoons decreased significantly with the count of a non ALCB nest box resident, Trypoxylon wasp cocoons, present in the nest box (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 54.37, < 0.001). Surprisingly, we found that there was an overall negative relationship between honey bee foraging probability and alfalfa leafcutting bee cocoon production (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 55.42, < 0.001). In this study, across three different field sites with varying landscapes in Virginia, areas of higher honey bee foraging probability were associated with lower levels of alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity.

No description available.

Inaug.-Diss.--Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen. / Vita. Bibliography: p. vii-xv.

No description available.

The fungus Ascosphaera apis causes the disease chalk brood in larvae of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Ascospores were recognised as the agents of disease, but the site of their germination to initiate infection had not been established. In this study larval surface cuticle was initially investigated as a possible site, but spores did not even activate here. Therefore, potential inhibitors of spore germination were studied, including water and chloroform washings of larval cuticle; 4 larval food constituents - pollen, honey, brood food, royal jelly; and a variety of medium-chain fatty acids a t concentrations of 1, 0.1 and 0. 01%. Royal jelly exhibited a severe inhibitory effect on all germination stages. Larvae were successfully infected by feeding them food Containing A. apis spores, both in vitro and in vivo. A histological study of infected larvae demonstrated germination of spores in the mid-gut lumen, followed by penetration of the peritrophic membrane and gut epithelium by developing hyphae; and subsequent invasion of larval tissues by mycelia. Various aspects of spore physiology were investigated. Spore activation and enlargement were shown to be independent of temperature within the ranges of 10 to 40°C and 25 to 40°C respectively, while germ-tube production was closely temperature related, only occurring between 25 and 37°C - with an optimum between 31 and 35°C . However, all 3 germination stages were found to be independent of environmental pH within the range of pH 5 to 7.8. Studies on the nutritional requirements for germination revealed the need for exogenous supplies of both a carbon and nitrogen source to support germ-tube production. The ‘spore-ball phenomenon’ was investigated and a supplementary amino acid source was identified . The etiology of chalk brood is discussed in the light of these findings.