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Subject:
From:
"J. Waggle" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:17:42 -0400
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Jerry Wallace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Maybe supercedure issue is not all due to chemical usage.  

My feelings is that the weakened immune of the honeybee caused by chemical 
use and contaminates in comb is also permitting viruses to impact the 
health of the colony and queen, causing an increase supercedure rate.

I have some clips from a few studies:

In this study, researchers suggest a connection of viruses with queen 
supercede.

“Localization of deformed wing virus infection in queen and drone Apis 
mellifera L”

"Queen fecundity is a central element in colony performance for honey 
production that could be impaired by viral infections. For instance, the 
undesired queen supersedure observed regularly by beekeepers may be 
related to viral infections. There are several reasons for untimely queen 
changing by workers in a colony, such as pathological impairment of its 
reproductive functions, lack of pheromone emission and lack of fully 
active spermatozoa in the spermatheca and decreasing sperm viability with 
the ageing of queens. Very few investigations have been published 
regarding factors affecting the fertility of the queens and the drones" 

--------->

In this study, researchers find that some viruses were present on all 
queens tested.

“Prevalence and Transmission of Honeybee Viruses”

“Distribution of viruses in the body of queens. The results of RT-PCR 
analysis on tissues of hemolymph, gut, ovaries, spermatheca, head, and 
eviscerated body from 10 queens for the presence of six viruses are shown 
in Table 1. Among the six viruses screened, ABPV was not found in any 
materials. BQCV, CBPV, DWV, KBV, and SBV were detected in one or more 
queen tissues. Except for tissues of the head, which were negative for all 
six viruses, the other five tissue samples were found to be virus 
positive. The presence of DWV was found in 100% of hemolymph samples, 80% 
of gut samples, 100% of ovary samples, 80% of spermatheca samples, and 
100% of eviscerated body samples. The presence of BQCV was found in 100% 
of gut samples and 70% of ovary samples. The presence of SBV was found in 
40% of ovary samples, 20% of hemolymph samples, and 60% of eviscerated 
body samples. The presence of CBPV was found in 30% of hemolymph and 40% 
of eviscerated body samples. The presence of KBV was found in 20% of the 
eviscerated body samples.”

Best Wishes,

Joe Waggle 
Ecologicalbeekeeping.com 
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' 
Feral Bee Project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/ 

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