Abstract There are several reports of honey bee populations in Europe which survive without treatment for Varroa. However, when evaluated outside their native area, higher survival and resistance traits were not observed in colonies of a survivor population. Varroainfestation is strongly influenced by environmental factors, probably affecting threshold levels on a European scale. In a Europe-wide experiment…
Abstract We assessed whether exposure to environmentally-relevant mixtures of four organophosphorus insecticides (OPs) exerted adverse effects on honey bees. Adult and worker bees were orally exposed for five days under laboratory conditions to mixtures of four insecticides, diazinon, malathion, profenofos and chlorpyrifos at two concentrations. Concentration in the mixtures tested were equivalent to the median…
Abstract We investigated pathogens in the parasitic honeybee mite Varroa destructor using nanoLC-MS/MS (TripleTOF) and 2D-E-MS/MS proteomics approaches supplemented with affinity-chromatography to concentrate trace target proteins. Peptides were detected from the currently uncharacterized Varroa destructor Macula-like virus (VdMLV), the deformed wing virus (DWV)-complex and the acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV). Peptide alignments revealed detection of complete structural DWV-complex block…
Abstract Nosema ceranae is a honey bee pathogen parasitizing the ventricular epithelium and potentially causing colony death. The effect of 0.25 M oxalic acid solution administered to the bees in the form of sugar syrup was determined in laboratory and field trials. The spore numbers in an 8-day laboratory experiment were significantly lower when AO was administered…