Recent discussion on the major underlying causes for decline in western honeybees gave some support for the theory that if only varroa mites could be eliminated from hives then bees might go back to coping more or less with declining forage and low-level exposure to pesticides. A lecture by a Bee Inspector this spring reported that the 2013 survey by Bee Inspectors of UK apiaries for 14 pathogens had found that 70% had DWV virus, 50% nosema, 1.5% EFB, 0.2% AFB (low levels of AFB are due to always burning, never treating). Colonies with DWV were half size, colonies with nosema were normal size. The Inspector said studies of the effects when varroa arrives are ongoing in the Hawaiian islands where varroa is sweeping across. Various strains of DWV are found where varroa has not arrived with little effect on bees. After varroa, one particular strain becomes dominant, which is the strain in UK. This suggests that varroa ‘farm’ DWV, inadvertently or as part of a survival strategy. Does anyone know if these studies have been published? When varroa first arrived in UK, colonies survived with 12,000 mites. Now UK Bee Inspectors recommend keeping the level below 1,000 – which requires a summer treatment as well as winter dribbling of oxalic acid. We all know the problems of using treatments effectively within the active season – time, weather, honey contamination, large colonies. Should we not now recognise that the whole approach of using poisons cannot be effective if it is necessary to maintain very low levels of mites? Intermittent poisoning results in a saw tooth level of infestation, slow rise to 1000 mites, sudden drop to 100, slow rebuild back to 1000 – and so an average persistent level of 500. Should the priority not switch to researching mites not bees. What we need is to make the hive inhospitable to mites so that they cannot reproduce and live healthily. Do varroa have any predators? ‘Bigger fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite them’. Any smaller mites around? What about searching for vulnerabilities in the mite life cycle? They must sense a pheromone emitted by fully-grown bee larvae asking to be capped, which tells varroa when to dive into the cells. Could that pheromone be masked in a way that bees still cap cells but mites miss getting the message? Or could that pheromone be used to trap mites in artificial brood combs that are already artificially capped over (so bees do not waste effort capping them) but with space for mites to still dive in to immerse themselves in poisoned artificial brood food at the bottom of the cells. Or how does a male mite find his sisters to mate with in the cells? Another pheromone? Could that pheromone be swamped out by maintaining a high constant level of a similar but artificial pheromone that has no meaning for bees so does not disturb bee activities? Efforts have been made to find funghi that kill mites but so far no way seems to have been found to maintain such funghi constantly in a hive. What research is already ongoing into other ways to make a hive inhospitable? How can Bee-L use its influence to promote more research in the direction of stopping a hive being so comfortable a hotel for varroa? Robin ________________________________ From: littlewolfbees apis mellifera <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Sunday, 15 June 2014, 18:45 Subject: [BEE-L] The effects of sublethal neonicotinoid exposure on brain state and behaviour of honey bee workers Any comments out there on the below? http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/research/new_directions/projects/2014/bees/sr9282.htm#.U5oF-dg6Mo4.gmail Walter littlewolfapiaries.com *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html