Barry Donovan wrote of his plans (and hopes) to travel to South Africa
and investigate the possibility that pseudoscorpions might control varroa
mites in colonies.
Bob Harrison responded (in part):
*******
"I ask you how these arachinids are going to pull adult varroa off adult
bees when they hide in cracks of hives? How are they going to bypass
nurse bees and pull varroa off larva being maintained by nurse bees when
they live in corner cracks of hives? I can't blame you for grabbing the
research money and heading to South Africa. I wouldn't mind going myself
with our below zero weather in Missouri. I remain very very skeptical."
*******
I admire Bob's healthy skepticism but offer a couple of examples from
history that 1) illustrate the value of following seemingly obscure leads
and 2) the potential value of research travel.
1) Before 1800 Edward Jenner heard that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox
reported that they then would not get smallpox, no matter how severe the
epidemic. Jenner followed up that lead, conducted a series of simple
experiments, and published a short paper in 1798. His results revealed how
milkmaids came to be immune to smallpox. His work, of course, eventually
led to total eradication of smallpox in the world's human population. [One
can find more details about Jenner's experiments on pages 291-293 in
Wenner, A.M. and P.H. Wells. 1990. Anatomy of a Controversy: The
Question of a "Language" Among Bees. Columbia University Press.]
2) In about 1868 the cottony-cushion scale insect appeared in California
citrus orchards. In less than 20 years the citrus industry was on its
knees; many growers uprooted or burned their trees. In the meantime,
Charles Riley of the USDA managed to determine that the scale had
apparently come from Australia and attempted to obtain funds for one of his
group to travel to Australia and learn about any natural controls that
could be used against the scale.
The U.S. Congress refused to permit the expenditure of USDA funds for
foreign travel, but Riley and others found a way around that problem by
getting the US State Department to fund expenses (all of $2000) for an
entomologist to travel to Australia, obstensibly to attend an 1888/89
International Exposition in that country. The entomologist selected
(Albert Koebele) did not, of course, attend the exposition but instead
visited citrus growers and entomologists to find a natural control against
the scale insect. And succeed he did.
By 1890 cottony-cushion scale in California had been completely
decimated, at a total cost of less than $5000 (including salaries).
Unfortunately, the use of new pesticides on crops after 1940 (including
DDT) put the scale problem back to square one for awhile. (Doesn't this
all sound familiar?)
*********
I would thus suggest that Barry go to South Africa if he can and do
whatever possible to learn whether pseudoscorpions do, indeed, attack and
control varroa mites. The best contact, of course, will be beekeepers such
as Eddy Lear and Mark Hale, who can give him a head start on the project.
Perhaps they could ahead of Barry's arrival set up some single frame
observation hives, innoculated with pseudoscorpions and illuminated by red
light, to observe the behavior of pseudoscorpions "in the dark," as it
were.
Adrian
Adrian M. Wenner (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA 93106 [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm]
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*
* "Aesthetic judgments do not arbitrate scientific discourse....
* Ultimately, theories are judged by how they fare when faced
* with cold, hard, experimental facts."
* Brian Greene, 1999
*
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