Hygienic behaviour of honey bees and its application for control of brood diseases and varroa

Spivak, Marla; Gilliam, Martha

doi:10.1080/0005772x.1998.11099394

Cited by 151 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…There is now evidence that hygienic behaviour is beneficial against four honey bee pests and diseases (varroa, DWV, chalkbrood, American foulbrood (Boecking et al, 2000;Boecking and Spivak, 1999;Spivak and Gilliam, 1998 …”

Section: Virus Quantificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way, diseases such as chalk brood, American foulbrood and varroa infestation can be fully or partly controlled (Boecking and Spivak, 1999;Spivak and Gilliam, 1998). Despite a number of recent reviews on varroa resistance (Büchler et al, 2010;Rinderer et al, 2010;Carreck, 2011), there has been relatively little research on the role of hygienic behaviour in varroa control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Towards integrated control of varroa: effect of variation in hygienic behaviour among honey bee colonies on mite population increase and deformed wing virus incidence

Toufailia

Amiri

Scandian

et al. 2014

Journal of Apicultural Research

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SummaryHygienic behaviour in the honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the uncapping and removal of dead, diseased or infected brood from sealed cells by worker bees. We determined the effect of hygienic behaviour on varroa population growth and incidence of deformed wing virus (DWV), which can be transmitted by varroa. We treated 42 broodless honey bee colonies with oxalic acid in early January 2013 to reduce varroa populations to low levels, which we quantified by extracting mites from a sample of worker bees. We quantified varroa levels, again when the colonies were broodless, 48 weeks later. During the summer the hygienic behaviour in each colony was quantified four times using the Freeze Killed Brood (FKB) removal assay, and ranged from 27.5 % to 100 %. Varroa population increased greatly over the season, and there was a significant negative correlation between varroa increase and FKB removal. This was entirely due to fully hygienic colonies with >95 % FKB having only 43 % of the varroa build up of the less hygienic colonies. None of the 14 colonies with >80 % FKB removal had overt symptoms of DWV, whilst 36 % of the less hygienic colonies did. Higher levels of FKB removal also correlated significantly with lower numbers of DWV RNA copies in worker bees, but not in varroa mites. On average, fully hygienic colonies had c. 10,000 times less viral RNA than less hygienic colonies. Hacia el control integrado de varroa: efecto de la variación en el comportamiento higiénico entre colonias de abejas de la miel con aumento de la población de ácaros y de la incidencia de virus de las alas deformadas ResumenEl comportamiento higiénico en la abeja de la miel, Apis mellifera, se basa en el desoperculado y la eliminación de la cría muerta, enferma o infectada a de las celdas selladas por las abejas obreras. Se determinó el efecto del comportamiento higiénico en el crecimiento de la población de varroa y la incidencia del virus de las alas deformadas (VAD), que puede ser transmitido por la varroa. Se han tratado 42 colonias de abejas de la miel sin larvas con ácido oxálico a principios de enero de 2013 para reducir las poblaciones de varroa a niveles bajos, lo que fue cuantificado mediante la extracción de los ácaros de una muestra de las abejas obreras. Se cuantificaron los niveles de varroa, de nuevo cuando las colonias no tenían cría, 48 semanas después. Durante el verano, el comportamiento higiénico en cada colonia se cuantificó cuatro veces utilizando el ensayo de congelar la cría para matarla (BCM), y este varió entre el 27,5% y el 100%. La población de Varroa aumentó considerablemente durante la temporada, y se observó una correlación negativa significativa entre el aumento de la varroasis y la 556 Toufailia et al.

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Section: Virus Quantificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards integrated control of varroa: effect of variation in hygienic behaviour among honey bee colonies on mite population increase and deformed wing virus incidence

Toufailia

Amiri

Scandian

et al. 2014

Journal of Apicultural Research

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“…One key honeybee defence mechanism that has received considerable attention is hygienic behaviour (reviewed by Spivak and Gilliam (1998)). This behaviour is carried out by workers as a defence against various brood diseases, such as the bacteria Paenibacillus larvae (Rothenbuhler, 1964), the chalkbrood fungus Ascosphaera apis (Milne, 1983) and the mite Varroa destructor (Spivak, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-level selection for hygienic behaviour in honeybees

et al. 2009

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Disease is one of the main factors driving both natural and artificial selection. It is a particularly important and increasing threat to the managed honeybee colonies, which are vital in crop pollination. Artificial selection for disease-resistant honeybee genotypes has previously only been carried out at the colony-level, that is, by using queens or males reared from colonies that show resistance. However, honeybee queens mate with many males and so each colony consists of multiple patrilines that will vary in heritable traits, such as disease resistance. Here, we investigate whether response to artificial selection for a key resistance mechanism, hygienic behaviour, can be improved using multi-level selection, that is, by selecting not only among colonies as normal but also among patrilines within colonies. Highly hygienic colonies were identified (between-colony selection), and the specific patrilines within them responsible for most hygienic behaviour were determined using observation hives. Queens reared from these hygienic patrilines (within-colony selection) were identified using DNA microsatellite analysis of a wing-tip tissue sample and then mated to drones from a third highly hygienic colony. The resulting colonies headed by queens from hygienic patrilines showed approximately double the level of hygienic behaviour of colonies headed by sister queens from non-hygienic patrilines. The results show that multi-level selection can significantly improve the success of honeybee breeding programs.

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“…mellifera bees are considered hygienic if they remove over 95% of dead brood within 48 h (Spivak and Gilliam, 1998). Our results indicate that A. dorsata removed part of the brood killed by the pin method within 24 h. More brood was removed when cell cappings were pinned with the thicker pin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…This important social behaviour encompasses all aspects of detection, uncapping, and removal of dead, diseased and infested larvae and pupae from the combs. This display of hygiene behaviour including its characteristic features was first reported in Apis mellifera (Rothenbuhler, 1964;Spivak and Gilliam, 1998;Woodrow, 1941) and subsequently in the Asian hive bee, Apis cerana (Peng et al, 1987) and the giant wild bee, Apis dorsata (Woyke, 1984(Woyke, , 1996.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Open-air-nesting honey bees Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa differ from the cavity-nesting Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in brood hygiene behaviour

Woyke

Wilde

Reddy

2004

Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

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The cavity-nesting Apis mellifera and Apis cerana bees detect, uncap, and remove diseased brood. The hygiene behaviour of openair-nesting bees Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa was investigated in India and Nepal. Sealed A. dorsata pupae were pin-killed or deep-frozen. The workers removed 73 or 37% of damaged pin-killed pupae depending on the diameter of the pins, and only 7% of the frozen undamaged pupae. Migrating A. dorsata and A. laboriosa left unopened the sealed brood in deserted combs. Thus, A. dorsata and A. laboriosa do not open undamaged cells with dead brood. This behaviour is a more efficient mechanism in preventing the spread of diseases and parasitic mites than uncapping and removing dead pupae by A. mellifera and A. cerana. It may be beneficial for migrating A. dorsata and A. laboriosa to temporarily disuse part of the comb cells in exchange for arresting the mites there and thus reducing the increase of their population.

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Hygienic behaviour of honey bees and its application for control of brood diseases and varroa

Cited by 151 publications

References 17 publications

Towards integrated control of varroa: effect of variation in hygienic behaviour among honey bee colonies on mite population increase and deformed wing virus incidence

Towards integrated control of varroa: effect of variation in hygienic behaviour among honey bee colonies on mite population increase and deformed wing virus incidence

Multi-level selection for hygienic behaviour in honeybees

Open-air-nesting honey bees Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa differ from the cavity-nesting Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in brood hygiene behaviour

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