News release today 5/17/7

Professor Helps Develop Techniques to Reduce Threat Against Honeybees

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530140/

Newswise — Bees swarm through the smoke as Professor James Amrine attempts to hook a pollen 
trap to one of the 20 beehives used for research at West Virginia University.

Amrine, not wearing any protective garb, picks up the small, metal firepot and blows more smoke 
through a nozzle into one of the stacked, wooden boxes placed near the tree line. The smoke is 
designed to keep the bees from attacking. It causes them to gorge themselves with honey – a 
survival instinct in case they must vacate the hive and recreate it elsewhere.

As bees continue swirling around his head, Amrine explains that the bees aren’t angry but 
confused from the smoke. He looks for the hook to attach the pollen trap.

“I was stung five times yesterday,” Amrine said, momentarily looking away from the hives. “On a 
bad day without my suit, I might get 50 to 100 stings. I probably get an average of 2,000 bee 
stings a year, but it doesn’t hurt me. I’m immune.”

He patiently screws the trap to the box, finishing it off with duct tape to seal any small holes. 
Located in an unassuming area next to the WVU Greenhouse, one might miss the importance of 
this research site.

But the honeybees are part of an ongoing research project at WVU that promises to put the 
University on the map in the world of apiculture (beekeeping) and aid the honeybees’ declining 
populations from what scientists are calling Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

The ongoing CCD problem escalated in November 2006 and seems to have spread to 27 states 
and Brazil, Canada and many parts of Europe.

This problem is not only important to beekeepers and to honey lovers; nearly one-third of the 
human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent 
of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A congressional study said honeybees add about $15 billion a year in value to the U.S. food 
supply. Among the crops to be affected are apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, 
celery, squash, cucumbers, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, 
cantaloupe and other melons.

The shortage will potentially affect the beef industry too because the growth of alfalfa is 
dependent on pollination from the bees.

Although scientists around the country are investigating several possible causes, including 
pesticides, viruses, genetically modified crops and even cell phones, Amrine said he is certain that 
at least 70 percent of the CCD is caused by tiny mites, roughly the size of a sesame seed, and the 
pathogens they carry.

Amrine, an entomologist in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, 
and one of the nation’s foremost acarologists (mite specialist), bases that estimate on the research 
he has been doing on the bees since 1996.

Working in conjunction with Bob Noel, a beekeeper from western Maryland, they have come up 
with a three-part, all natural protocol for managing honeybees designed to kill or deter the 
maximum number of mites while having very little impact on the bee colony. The results are 
slated to be published in the International Journal of Acarology June 1.

The protocol involves first treating the hives with two essential oils: spearmint and lemon grass, 
(constituents of Honey B Healthy TM, a product now marketed by Noel).

“African people used lemon grass to manage honeybees for the last 60,000 years. They deserve 
the original credit for that. We mix it with spearmint, and it helps the bees resist the pathogens 
the mites carry by possibly boosting the bees’ immune systems,” said Amrine. “The underlying 
mechanisms of action of essential oils are poorly understood. There are various reports that state 
they are cytophylactic or that they actively stimulate the immune system to help ‘fight off’ 
pathogens. We treat declining honeybees with Honey B Healthy, and within 21 days, we see 
improvement.”

The next step is using a special wintergreen formula mixed with grease and shaped into patties. 
The grease is mixed with sugar, mineral salt, honey and wintergreen and placed inside the hives.

“The bees will eat it,” Amrine said. “It also combats pathogens and gives the honeybees an edge in 
improving their health. It doesn’t kill bacteria, but it stops their growth. Also the grease gets on 
the bees and makes it harder for the mites to try to hitch a ride.”

The final part of the protocol involves applying a formula of formic acid to the hive with soaked 
pads that trap the heat and cause the acid to evaporate. “Formic acid is present in the honey 
already in small amounts,” he said. “Heat from the brood causes the formic acid to evaporate and 
holds this vapor inside the nest. It kills 93 percent of the mites inside the hive in a one-day 
treatment.”

Amrine has worked with beekeepers across the country and in Europe. In 2006, he was named 
Researcher of the Year by Florida State Beekeepers for the help he gave some members of the 
group. “Every time we went to Florida, we got at least a 93 percent kill of mites,” Amrine said. “The 
beekeepers were amazed to see how well this worked. They’ve been fighting the mites and CCD 
for the past several years.”

Beekeepers, like any phase of agriculture, have to rely on the unpredictability of nature to make 
their living. One colony of bees is worth approximately $250, and pollination contracts with 
growers can earn a beekeeper as much as $250,000.

“Those beekeepers using our methods have a lot of bees and are doing quite well,” he added. 
“They are amazed to see how well this works.”

Amrine’s honeybee research can be accessed at http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa06.htm. He 
is one of the authors of what many feel is the defining mite guide, “Revised Keys to the World 
Genera of Eriophyoidea” (Acari: Prostigmata). The International Journal of Acarology has named a 
fellowship in his honor - the James W. Amrine Fellowship - and he is president-elect of the 
Acarological Society of America.

Amrine teaches an apiculture class at WVU and will be teaching a forensic entomology class this 
fall along with ENTO 101, a bugs and humans class, which explores insects’ impact on humans. In 
addition, Amrine has worked with police in the past to help them ascertain the length of time a 
body has been decomposing based on the presence of insects and arthropods.

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************