Charles, I think there must be a typo on Figure 2.  Often people cut-and-paste parts of the captions as they write their papers, and I think that they meant to change "Virus" to "Acetylcholinesterase".  The graph shows dates on the X axis versus RQ (relative quantity) of AChE (not "virus") on the Y axis.  Note the graph title supports my assumption.


As far as what the figure means, part A is the total AChE expression in all hives, controls and treated, while B shows just the treated ones.


I found it interesting that AChE expression goes up in all hives in January.  I can guess why but it is just a guess.  I think it could be because in Quebec the January bees are clustering.  Activity should be low.  To lower excitability threshold in the nervous system, you would add AChE to the synapse....it would be like taking a sleeping pill.  It could be a normal physiological response and part of clustering behavior.


The mite levels were probably about the same in all the hives at the beginning, as they explained these hives were from one beekeeper and "Colonies were all new healthy divisions of 2012, equal in population size, provided with newly fertilized and tested queens. Honeybees were received on 28-June 2012 in temporary hives. Then they were moved to 32 new Langestroth hives. Colonies were split into four apiaries of 8 colonies each on 1-July 2012."


Personally I doubt that they had a wide range of mite loads when the experiment was set up.  If you look at the initial mite loads reported in August on treated hives they aren't significantly different to the controls.  Mites spike highest among treated hives in September, and there is a smaller spike among untreated hives in September.  I think the difference between groups is more likely due to a behavior difference in the treated bees vs controls, than an initial difference in mite loads between treated and control hives.


Christina



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