We studied the effects of mixed honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana on the intraspecific and interspecific recognition of female brood stages in the honeybees A. cerana and A. mellifera by transferring brood combs between queenright colonies. In the intraspecific tests, significantly more larvae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera, whilst significantly fewer eggs and pupae were removed in A. cerana than in A. mellifera. In the interspecific tests, A. cerana colonies removed significantly more larvae and pupae of A. mellifera than the same brood stages of A. cerana were removed by A. mellifera. We show there are highly significant differences in both intraspecific and interspecific brood recognition between A. cerana and A. mellifera and that brood recognition operates with decreasing intensity with increasing developmental age within species. This suggests that worker policing in egg removal is a first line of defense against heterospecific social parasites.

This work is focused on the study of physiology and proteome of the the mite Varroa destructor and on comparison with the honeybee Apis mellifera. Varroa is currently a major problem for beekeeping, because infects most of the colonies. The control of the mite can not be done without residues both in the hive and for example in the honey or other resources used by the man. Another problem can also be the simultaneously discussed issue of the connection with the Colony Collapse Disorder. The internal anatomy of V. destructor was studied by using paraffin histology. On histological sections stained using hematoxylin and PAS was possible to observe the mite digestive system, but also egg, ovaries or brain. The primary aim of this study was to identify the proteins of mite V. destructor and bee A. mellifera as a host of this parasite. For the electrophoretic separation was used two- dimensional gel electrophoresis, where the second dimension was carried out using 12% and 15% SDS-PAGE. The most abundant spots were selected for analysis using MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. The most abundant protein identified in samples of V. destructor was hexamerin, arginine kinase or hemelipoglycoprotein precursor. Hexamerins were also identified as the major proteins in the pupae samples. On the contrary the main...

M.Tech.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1954. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-111).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1939. / Typescript. Includes abstract and vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-93).

Halle, Wittenberg, University, Habil.-Schr., 2004.

Halle, University, Diss., 1998.

Submitted by Ana Damasceno (ana.damasceno@unipampa.edu.br) on 2016-10-13T18:21:12Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Identificacao de virus que afetam apis mellifera.pdf: 2079239 bytes, checksum: 490f111cf7ddb616e9d3cc3373a5be07 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T18:21:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Identificacao de virus que afetam apis mellifera.pdf: 2079239 bytes, checksum: 490f111cf7ddb616e9d3cc3373a5be07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-30 / A apicultura é uma atividade de importância econômica e ambiental. O clima e a flora do Brasil somados à presença da abelha africanizada conferem um excelente potencial apícola. Entretanto, as abelhas são suscetíveis a uma variedade de doenças. Vários são os patógenos que podem acometer abelhas melíferas, sendo o foco deste trabalho a relação entre o ácaro Varroa destructor e os vírus que acometem abelhas. V. destructor é um ectoparasita, sendo a varroose, doença causada por este ácaro, responsável pela mortalidade de milhares de colônias de Apis mellifera em várias partes do mundo. Entretanto, os danos causados pela varroose variam com a raça de abelhas e condições climáticas. Embora o ácaro cause poucos danos nas colônias de abelhas africanizadas no Brasil, a coexistência deste ectoparasita com determinados tipos virais pode comprometer seriamente a saúde da colônia, uma vez que muitos destes vírus tem sua transmissão relacionada ao ectoparasita, apontando este como um vetor da infecção. Portanto, faz-se necessária a identificação de quais vírus estão associados ao ácaro e que, possivelmente, utilizam-se do ácaro como vetor. Dentro deste contexto, objetivamos verificar a existência de vírus associados ao ácaro V. destructor em espécimes coletadas em apiários de diferentes regiões do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram realizadas coletas de ácaros em apiários localizados em oito municípios gaúchos. A partir das amostras coletadas, foi realizada extração de RNA total e síntese de cDNA. O cDNA sintetizado foi submetido à PCR utilizando-se 9 pares de primers para detecção de vírus que afetam abelhas e um par de primers para controle endógeno. As amostras foram submetidas a eletroforese em gel de agarose. Identificou-se, em três apiários, a presença dos vírus SBV (Vírus da Cria Ensacada) e VDV-1 (Vírus Varroa destructor-1) associados ao ácaro V. destructor. Estes dados são inéditos uma vez que estudos semelhantes nunca foram realizados no Brasil ou em abelhas africanizadas e poderão servir de base no desenvolvimento de programas de controle deste parasita. / Beekeeping is an activity that has both economic and environmental importance. Brazil has excellent climate and flora for beekeeping, and alongside the presence of Africanized bee populations, it has great potential for apiculture. However, Apis mellifera bees are susceptible to a variety of diseases. There are several pathogens that can affect honeybees and the focus of this work is to assess the relationship between the Varroa destructor mite and viruses that affect bees in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. V. destructor is an ectoparasite and the disease caused by this mite may be responsible for the death of thousands of colonies of A. mellifera in several parts of the world. However, the damage caused by the varroa mite vary according to the race of the affected bees and weather conditions. Although the varroa mite cause little damage in colonies of Africanized bees in Brazil, the coexistence of this ectoparasite with certain types of viruses can seriously compromise the health of the colony, since many of these viruses use the mite for transmission, pointing this as a probable vector. Therefore, it is necessary to identify which viruses are associated with the mite and that possibly use it as vector. Within this context, the objective of this work is to verify the presence of viruses associated with the V. destructor mite in specimens collected in apiaries in different regions of Rio Grande do Sul. Mite collections were made in apiaries located in eight different cities in the state. Collected samples were subjected to total RNA extrection and cDNA synthesis was performed. The synthesized cDNA was subjected to PCR using nine primer pairs for detection of viruses affecting bee and one pair of primers for endogenous control. Amplified samples were subjected to electrophoresis on agarose gel. With this work, we have been able to identify in the presence of SBV and VDV-1 virus associated with V. destructor mite in three different apiaries. The obtained data are novel, since similar studies have never been conducted before in Brazil or using Africanized bee colonies, and could be used as basis in development of control strategies of this parasite.

No description available.

Chalkbrood, caused by Ascosphaera apis (Maassen ex Claussen) Olive & Spiltor, is a cosmopolitan fungal disease of honey bee larvae (Apis mellifera L.) for which there is no chemotherapeutic control. Using in vitro larval rearing methods, lysozyme-HCl, a food-grade antimicrobial extracted from hen egg albumen, was found to suppress chalkbrood at levels of 0.75-1.5% (g/mL) of larval diet. In field trials, lysozyme-HCl did not affect adult bee survival or brood production and did effectively suppress the development of chalkbrood disease. Daily chalkbrood mummy production decreased by a factor of 10 in colonies treated with three treatments of 6000 mg of lysozyme-HCl when compared with infected, untreated controls and reduced disease symptoms to levels observed in uninfected colonies. Honey production was also found to be significantly negatively correlated with increased disease severity. Lysozyme-HCl is a promising safe therapeutic agent for the control of chalkbrood in honey bee colonies.