Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera) have low infestation levels of the mite Varroa destructor in different ecological regions in Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies of African and European descent were compared for levels of Varroa destructor infestation in 3 different ecological regions in Mexico. The 300 colonies that were studied were located in subtropical, temperate sub-humid, and temperate dry climates. The morphotype and mitotype of adult bees as well as their rates of infestation by varroa mites were determined. Additionally, the number of combs with brood and covered with bees was recorded for each colony. The highest frequency of colonies that were classified as African-derived was found in the subtropical environment, whereas the lowest occurred in the temperate dry region. Overall, the colonies of African genotype had significantly lower mite infestation rates (3.5 ± 0.34%) than the colonies of European genotype (4.7 ± 0.49%) regardless of the region sampled. Significant effects of genotype and region on Varroa infestation rates were evident, and there were no differences in bee population or capped brood between 7283 Genotypic and environmental effects on varroa mites ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 13 (3): 7282-7293 (2014) genotypes. Mite infestation levels were significantly lower in the colonies of the temperate dry region than in the colonies of the other 2 regions. These results are discussed within the context of results from studies that were previously conducted in Brazil. This is the first study that demonstrates the effects of Africanization and ecological environment on V. destructor infestation rates in honey bee colonies in North America.

Frecuencia de varroosis y nosemosis en colonias de abejas melíferas (Apis mellifera) en el estado de Zacatecas, México

“…Various studies conducted in Mexico show significant variations in varroa infestation levels in both Africanized and European bees (Corrêa-Marques & De Jong, 1998;Guzmán-Guzmán--Novoa, Vandame, & Arechavaleta-Velazco, 1999;Medina-infestación de varroa en Zacatecas y se observó que independientemente de la zona donde se encontraban, las colondientemente de la zona donde se encontraban, las colonias con genotipo africano presentaron niveles de infestación inferiores a las colonias europeas (Medina-Flores, Guzmán-Novoa, Hamiduzzaman, Aréchiga-Flores, & López-Carlos, 2014). Las colonias de abejas africanizadas presentan menores cargas poblacionales de ácaros en comparación con las colonias de abejas europeas (De Jong & Soares, 1997;Moretto & Mello, 2000) debido a la alta frecuencia de enjambrazón y hábitos migratorios (Cobey, 2001;Fries, Hansen, Imdorf, & Rosenkranz, 2003), a que expresan en mayor medida comportamiento higiénico (Aumeier, Rosenkranz, & Gonçalves, 2000;Spivak & Reuter, 2001;Vandame, Morand, Colin, & Belzunces, 2002) y acicalamiento (Arechavaleta-Velasco & Guzmán-Novoa, 2001; Guzmán-Novoa, Emsen, Unger, Espinosa-Montaño, & Petukhova, 2012), así como menor susceptibilidad a la invasión y reproducción del ácaro (Behrens et al, 2011;Guzmán-Novoa et al, 1999;Medina & Martin, 1999).…”

“…Among the factors that have been cited as the cause of the variation is the genotype of the bees (Marcangeli, 1999;Moretto & Mello, 1999). Recently, a study parallel to the present one analyzed the effect of genotype and ecological zone on varroa infestation levels in Zacatecas, determining that regardless of the zone where they were found, colonies with the African genotype had lower infestation levels than the European colonies (Medina-Flores, Guzmán-Novoa, Hamiduzzaman, Aréchiga-Flores, & López-Carlos, 2014). Africanized bee colonies have lower mite population loads than European honeybee colonies (De Jong & Soares, 1997;Moretto & Mello, 2000) due to their igh-swarming frequency and migratory habits (Cobey, 2001;Fries, Hansen, Imdorf, & Rosenkranz, 2003), their greater degree of hygienic behavior (Aumeier, Rosenkranz, & Gonçalves, 2000;Spivak & Reuter, 2001;Vandame, Morand, Colin, & Belzunces, 2002) and grooming (Arechavaleta-Velasco & Guzmán-Novoa, 2001;Guzman-Novoa, Emsen, Unger, Espinosa-Montaño, & Petukhova, 2012), and their lower susceptibility to mite invasion and reproduction (Behrens et al, 2011;Guzmán-Novoa et al, 1999;Medina & Martin, 1999).…”

Can the Environment Influence Varroosis Infestation in Africanized Honey Bees in a Neotropical Region?

“…Mite infestation per mesoregion was variable, ranging from 0 to > 20%, showing that some colonies can be less tolerant. According to Medina-Flores et al (2014), the varroa mites should benefit from tropical areas because honey bees can produce brood all year, which should allow the mite to reproduce constantly, so the mite level could be higher. Despite this, the Africanized honey bees in the areas studied are under different climate and altitude conditions (as shown in Table 1), and the variation in those variables can affect morphophysiological and behavioral characteristics in the honey bees, which can develop regional ecotypes (Meixner et al 2010).…”

“…The brood rearing in honey bee colonies depends on sources of pollen and nectar in the environment, and food source availability is directly influenced by climatic conditions. This is important to the varroa infestation levels (Medina-Flores et al 2014) because the mite needs the honey bee brood to reproduce (Rosenkranz et al 2010).…”

Atypical viral and parasitic pattern in Algerian honey bee subspecies Apis mellifera intermissa and A. m. sahariensis

“…Based on the damage thresholds identified in Europe and North America, most of these colonies should have collapsed during the previous winter Guzman-Novoa et al 2010). The longer brood interruption in the South could limit the reproduction of V. destructor in the colonies (Moretto et al 1991;Medina-Flores et al 2014). In line with this hypothesis, mite treatments are less frequent in the South (one, rarely two treatments per year versus two to three in the North), which could result from a lower parasitic pressure at certain critical time of the year, a trend not visible based on a unique mite sampling as performed in our study.…”