Another study out by Scaramella et al explores the impact of brood effects
on mite non-reproduction, lending more credence to the idea of resurrecting
the the term 'SMR' to specifically reflect brood effect separate from
hygienic behavior:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751923000929#s0055
A few pull-quotes:
'The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the honey bee
host mechanisms responsible for the SMR phenotype. This was approached by
separating the adult bee behaviors from brood traits and measuring the rate
of Varroa mite reproductive success. We examined three naturally adapted
mite-resistant honey bee populations from Sweden, Norway and France that
express SMR (
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751923000929#b0145>
Locke and Fries, 2011,
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751923000929#b0150>
Locke et al., 2012,
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751923000929#b0195>
Oddie et al., 2017) and compared them with a local mite-susceptible
population as a control group.'
'Adult bees were restricted from sections of brood on the same
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/urticaria> hive
frame as brood that was exposed to adult bees. The hypothesis was that if
mite reproductive success was reduced in the worker brood that was excluded
from adult bees, then brood traits would be a significant contributor to the
SMR expression in these populations, independent of the adult worker
behaviors. Specific reasons for failed mite reproduction were also examined
to compare and identify differences between the mite-resistant populations.'
'Mite reproductive success rates did not significantly differ between
treatment groups of either caged brood or brood exposed to adult bees and
their possible removal behaviors, irrespective of the population's genetic
background (÷2 = 2.45, degrees of freedom (df) = 1, P > 0.11). The only
variable that did influence Varroa mite reproductive success was the
population's genetic background, irrespective of treatment (÷2 = 44.51, df =
3, P < 0.005).'
'Delayed egg laying was the most common reason for failed mite reproduction
across all populations in this study, similar to a pan-European study
assessing mite reproduction (
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751923000929#b0165>
Mondet et al., 2020). However, the absence of male mite offspring was
significantly higher in the Swedish and French populations, which also have
on average higher overall mite reproductive failure, compared with the
Norwegian and control populations.'
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