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            Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter
    Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764)
               Volume 12, Number 11 November 1995
 
                SCREENING FOR AFRICAN BEES (AHB)
 
     The Africanized Honey Bee Task Force, appointed by Bob
Crawford, Commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services, met October 11, 1995 at the Doyle Conner
Building in Gainesville.  A major reason for this was to begin
consideration of Florida policy on African honey bee certification.
According to Mr. Laurence Cutts, chief apiary inspector:  "Since
the African Honey Bee (AHB) movement east has currently stalled
south of Houston, Texas, and natural migration into Florida may be
many years away, it is more important than ever that man-assisted
movement be prevented."  According to Mr. Cutts, the department has
been pro-active in setting up a bait hive line along I-10 and
adding additional bait hives at ports of entry.   Now it would like
to prevent introduction using regulations that will not place an
unbearable burden on the Department nor the beekeeping industry.
 
     After some discussion, the Task Force recommended the
following certification requirements for honey bees entering
Florida:
 
1.  The Florida Department of Agriculture shall be notified as soon
as possible, but no later than time of entry.  Honeybee colonies
will be certified on a first-come, first-serve basis.  [Editor's
note:  Originally only bees from states determined to be
Africanized were included.  The Task Force, however, is now
proposing that all honey bees entering Florida come under this
provision.]
 
2.  A compliance agreement setting forth the following conditions
must be signed by the owner/operator:
 
     A.  The exact location of the drop (unloading) yard(s) will be
given.
 
     B.  The bees will be held in the drop yard(s) until certified
by the Department to move.
 
     C.  An inspector biased sample of 10 percent of the colonies
will be checked.
 
3.  Should any sample be 90 percent probability or above of being
AHB, the beekeeper has two options:
 
     A.  Requeen immediately with certified European stock, be
dequeened and stacked, or
 
     B.  Wait for a sample to be sent to Gainesville for further
testing.  If 90% or above in Gainesville, it will be sent to
Beltsville, MD.
 
4.  Any colony exceeding 100% probability of being AHB will
initiate a 100% testing of that load.
 
5.  Any colony confirmed to be African must be requeened, dequeened
and stacked, or destroyed within seven days of receipt of written
notice.
 
6.  Package bees and queens must be certified by the state of
origin.
 
     It is anticipated that the testing will use a "fresh weight"
system.  This procedure is estimated to take about three minutes
per sample.  The sampling process is considered "special" within
the context of Florida's Apiary Inspection services.  As such, it
carries a service charge based on time and travel expenses of
inspectors.
 
     I emphasize that the above are only recommendations at the
present time.  The final step will be forwarding them to the
Agricultural Commissioner's office.  This has been postponed,
however, for another year by the Division.  Reasons for the delay
include the fact that the AHB has yet to reach the almond-growing
area in California, that statistical justification for doing a
percentage inspection is weak and finally, that resources to do 100
percent inspection do not exist in the Division.  Now that this has
been put off for the time being, there is some breathing room to
contemplate the effects of these possible regulations on individual
beekeepers and regulators.  If you have questions or concerns,
contact your local bee inspector or Mr. Laurence Cutts, Chief
Apiarist, P.O. Box 147100/1911 SW 34th St., Gainesville, FL 32614-
7100, ph 904/372-3505 or fax 904/955-2301.
 
                        AHB IN CALIFORNIA
 
     In the February 1990 APIS, I reported on the pioneering honey
bee DNA work of Dr. Glenn Hall here in the Entomology and
Nematology Department.  In the journal Nature (1989), he concluded
that a predominance of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA in
African bees suggested the insects were spreading by swarming,
rather than through genetic inheritance from drones.  In the July
1994 APIS, I reviewed the results of a study in the journal
Experientia by N.M. Schiff and W.S. Sheppard that tracked bee
ancestry using mitochondrial DNA.  The same issue also discussed
possible reasons why the AHB migration had slowed considerably in
Texas and was rapidly spreading westward, but not towards the east
as fast as predicted.  Dr. Robert Page, at the University of
California, Davis, adds to the story in From the U.C. Apiaries,
July/August 1995, published by Dr. Eric C. Mussen:
 
     "Africanized honey bees were first detected in California last
fall when they suddenly appeared at a prison near Blythe.  Since
then, a total of ten colonies has been detected, two near Blythe
and the rest in the Imperial Valley.  Most of these colonies were
determined to be Africanized on the basis of the USDA-ID
morphometric method that analyzes 21 different size and body part
characteristics.  In addition to the standard USDA-ID method, the
California Department of Food and Agriculture pest diagnostic lab
analyzed the mitochondrial DNA of these bees using a technique
developed in my laboratory by Dr. Paul Ebert.  [Editor's note: This
is based on a method published by Dr. Hall in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences (1991).]  They found that all of
these colonies had African-type mitochondria.  The mitochondria in
honey bees (and humans) is inherited only from the mother.
Therefore, these results demonstrate that the Africanized bees
arriving in California are part of a very long maternal line that
extends relatively unchanged back to the original introduction of
African bees in Brazil in 1956.   [Editor's note: This was also
concluded by Dr. Hall in his Nature study mentioned above.]
 
     "Two years ago Africanized bees were found on the southern and
eastern borders of California.  I believed at that time that their
entry into California was inevitable and had probably already
occurred.  My hypothesis was that they would increase in density in
that area until they were numerous enough to be captured in a trap,
or cause some kind of problem in an inhabited area.  The repeated
finds of Africanized bees in the Imperial Valley this spring
stimulated me to sample bees from that region in order to determine
their distribution and relative abundance.
 
     "The standard USDA-ID method requires sampling 10 bees from a
single colony.  Feral colonies are not easily found unless they fly
into traps or are a nuisance to someone, so the morphometric method
is not good to use as a random survey tool.  Mitochondrial DNA
analyses, however, can be made on single bees.  Therefore, an area
survey is possible by simply catching bees on flowers, then
determining their mitochondrial type.  If Africanized bees are
abundant in an area, relative to European bees, then there should
be an abundance of African mitochondrial types in the sample.
 
     "April 13-15, I (along with my 11-year-old son, Brian)
collected 75 bees from 31 collection sites located in the Imperial
Valley and near Blythe, California.  We tried to make collections
in areas where the bees were likely to be feral, although there is
no way to tell where the bees came from.  Mitochondrial DNA
diagnostics were run on these bees and we did not find any
mitochondrial types that are indicative of Africanized honey bees.
I interpret these results to suggest that Africanized honey bees
are not yet abundant in these areas.
 
     "My original hypothesis was probably wrong.  Africanized bees
have not been in California for two years; it is likely that we are
truly seeing the very early stages of the 'invasion' of Africanized
bees.  The current method of sampling used by the California
Department of Food and Agriculture--trap lines and reports from
concerned citizens--are better than random sampling methods for
early detection of rare Africanized colonies.  However, the method
of randomly sampling bees and checking their mitochondrial DNA will
be the best indicator of the extent of 'Africanization' in an area.
 
     "Why it has taken the bees so long to move into California and
why they are spreading so slowly remain a mystery.  [Editor's note:
see possible reasons in the July 1994 APIS.]  Genetic mixing
with commercial bees does not seem to be the answer because the
colonies that have been detected have been highly Africanized both
in morphometric characters and mitochondrial DNA.  [Editor's note:
Dr. Hall published evidence in the Journal Genetics (1990) that
feral Mexican honey bees of African descent had not hybridized
significantly with commercial European bees.  Also see June 1993
APIS on why hybrids may not persist in the wild.]  Only time will
tell to what extent they will spread and how abundant they will
become, but for now they have not made a detectable impact, even in
the Imperial Valley."
 
     As time passes, therefore, the African honey bee migration
continues to confound as it has almost from its date of release
into the Brazilian wilds.  And for those closest to the issue, one
of the greatest biological events of the 20th century only becomes
more and more intriguing.  Unfortunately, this is often little
solace to the general public and beekeeping industry in search of
definite answers to cope with challenges posed by this remarkable
insect.
 
                 FACTS AND VINE CROP POLLINATION
 
     This second annual Florida Agricultural Conference and Trade
Show (FACTS) at the Orange County Convention Center, October 24-26,
1995, was a rousing success by most measures.  There was plenty to
satisfy all those interested in the changing face of Florida
agriculture.  These included concurrent presentation on vegetables
and citrus, a large trade show and several other exhibits,
including one on how information technology is helping agriculture.
 
     In previous conferences of this kind, I have noticed that
pollination issues did not seem to have the same emphasis as those
involving fertilization rates, disease and pest diagnoses, and
pesticide applications.  There are signs that this is changing,
however.  My presentation on "Pollination Requirements of Vine
Crops" was well received and generated many more questions than
usual, not only about honey bees, but also other pollinators.  A
few beekeepers were also in attendance hawking their pollination
wares.   And several exhibitors were selling chemical attractants
to growers anxious to get more honey bees visiting target crops.
 
     Increasing interest in pollination has brought with it the
realization that much more needs to be learned about this aspect of
Florida cropping systems.  Information given at the vegetable
session, for example, was wide ranging, but little was mentioned,
even in passing, of pollination requirements.   Production trials
on a bewildering array of watermelons and discussion of the
growing specialty vegetable crop market (pepper, garlic, artichoke,
leek, chicory and others) dominated the agenda.  The use of
transplants instead of seed for seedless watermelon production
(which require insect pollination in any case) and protected
growing (greenhouses, plastic-sheeted frames) situations were also
addressed during the vegetable session.
 
     Taken as a whole, the FACTS convention produced a good deal of
information important to those engaged in Florida citrus and
vegetable culture.  As part of their communication with customers,
would-be commercial pollinators should also become conversant with
the above topics and other aspects of the production techniques
growers use (see July and October 1995 APIS).  A copy of the
vegetable proceedings, which includes the paper on vine crop
pollination requirements, is available from Citrus and Vegetable
Magazine, 794 N. 56th St., Suite 560, Tampa, FL 33617, ph 813/980-
6386, fax 813/980-2871 or Dr. Don Maynard, Gulf Coast REC, 5007
60th St. E., Bradenton, FL 32403-9324, ph 813/751-7636, fax
813/751-7639.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143
FAX: 904-392-0190
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV; INTERNET Address: [log in to unmask]
APIS on the World Wide Web--
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