Time for me to buy some bifocals, it looks like we will soon be taking
"blood samples" from our bees.

 

Seriously, it is interesting that this approach has not been attempted
before, yet is immediately showing stark differences within a hive's
population.

This allows us to identify and differentiate between individual "sick" and
"healthy" bees within a without having to resort to gross visible symptoms
as our only metric.

 

That's likely to be powerful.

 

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0108486

http://tinyurl.com/pnaf6pz

 

"Multiple stress factors in honey bees are causing loss of bee colonies
worldwide. Several infectious agents of bees are believed to contribute to
this problem. The mechanisms of honey bee immunity are not completely
understood, in part due to limited information about the types and
abundances of hemocytes that help bees resist disease. Our study utilized
flow cytometry and microscopy to examine populations of hemolymph
particulates in honey bees."

 

"..When analysis was applied to bees from a single colony, significant
differences between individuals were noted. Therefore, this approach may be
used to learn more about polyethism, polyandry, or physiology of individual
bees, and potentially their responses to external stimuli."

 

 


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