Improving honey bee colony health - coordinated control of the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor

英国的蜜蜂群体是由瓦罗亚破坏因子寄生的，这是一种体外寄生的螨类，它是所有变形翅膀病毒(DWV)的媒介。英国每年15%-25%的殖民地损失是由螨虫感染和传播病毒感染共同造成的，目前还没有规范的控制治疗措施。然而，一些杀螨剂提供了非常有效的治疗方法，控制使用将导致Varroa水平显著下降，从而降低病毒水平和更健康的蜂群。本研究的主要目标是在地理隔离的环境中使用协同处理Varroa感染的蜜蜂群体，以显示蜜蜂健康的改善。这将通过对苏格兰西海岸外的Arran岛上的殖民地进行协调处理来实现，并将通过检查殖民地中存在的种群多样性和变形翼病毒(DWV)的水平来衡量，DWV是一种由瓦罗阿螨传播的病原体。这项研究的目的是测试这些协同治疗方法是否可以改善蜂群健康，以及将这种做法引入广泛地理区域的养蜂人应该会在很大程度上导致蜜蜂健康的长期改善。我们将在治疗前和治疗后对Arran上每个地点的菌落进行采样，并确定种群中的病毒水平和多样性。测试将在三年内重复进行，以研究治疗的长期效果。这项研究将试图在景观水平上使用协调处理来逆转引入Varroa的影响，例如在夏威夷观察到的效果(Martin等人。2012年)，并表明协同使用杀螨剂可以大大减少瓦罗亚的侵扰，并有可能改善种群健康。我们将使用高通量测序技术检测在ARRAN现场采样期间采集的蜜蜂中的DWV水平，以确定病毒种群的多样性，并确定治疗前主导病毒基因型的存在是否可以在治疗后转变为混合种群。由于景观规模的实地研究可能难以控制和监测，因此还将进行局部研究。Varroa感染(通过从相邻的蜂巢漂流)对无Varroa的殖民地的影响以及杀螨剂处理对Varroa感染的殖民地的影响将在与Bowman小组(阿伯丁大学)的“殖民地交换”实验中进行研究。这项研究的目标将是确定以前没有Varroa的殖民地屈服于Varroa感染的速度有多快，随后观察到病毒水平的增加和多样性的减少，就像在夏威夷观察到的殖民地一样(Martin等人)。2012年)。我们还将尝试“拯救”瓦罗亚出没的殖民地，并观察病毒种群是否会在持续的杀螨剂治疗基础上恢复到低水平、高多样性。通过频繁检测成虫、蛹和幼虫，并使用下一代测序方法测量DWV种群多样性，将检查取决于Varroa侵染和处理的种群中病毒种群变化的程度。这将使我们清楚地了解杀螨剂处理对病毒种群的影响，并将强调协调的Varroa控制过程的影响，例如我们将对Arran.这个项目的最终目标是检查基于草酸的杀螨剂处理对Varroa出没的蜂群的残留，以及这是否对蜂巢中的蜂巢和蜂蜜产生长期累积效应，从而可能影响这种处理对养蜂人的实际使用。草酸是一种有效的处理剂，但杀螨剂对蜂巢和蜂蜜的长期影响尚未得到充分研究。在这里，我们建议使用高效液相方法来研究梳子化学，并确定残留物是否

Honey bee colonies in the UK are parasitized by Varroa destructor, an ectoparasitic mite, which acts as a vector for all strains of deformed wing virus (DWV). The combined infestation of mites and infections with the transmitted viruses are responsible for 15-25% colony losses across the UK per annum and no regulated control treatments are currently in place. However, some miticides provide very effective treatment and controlled usage would lead to significant decreases in Varroa levels and consequently lower virus levels and healthier colonies.The primary objective of this study is to use coordinated treatment of Varroa infestations of bee colonies in a geographically isolated environment to show improvements in honey bee health. This will be achieved through the coordinated treatment of colonies on the island of Arran off the west coast of Scotland and will be measured by examining the population diversity and levels of deformed wing virus (DWV), a pathogen transmitted by the Varroa mite, present in the colonies. The objective of this study is to test whether these coordinated treatment methods can improve colony health and that the introduction of this practice to beekeepers across a wide geographic area should result in long term improvements in bee health on a large scale. We will sample colonies from each site on Arran pre- and post-treatment and identify the virus levels and diversity in the population. The testing will be repeated over three years to study the long-term effect of the treatments. This study will attempt to use coordinated treatments on a landscape level to reverse the effects of Varroa introduction, such as those observed in Hawaii (Martin et al. 2012), and show that coordinated treatments of miticides can drastically reduce Varroa infestation and potentially improve colony health. We will examine the levels of DWV in the bees collected during field sampling on Arran using high throughput sequencing to identify the diversity of the viral population and determine whether the presence of a dominant viral genotype pre-treatment can be shifted to a mixed population post-treatment. As field studies on a landscape scale can be difficult to control and monitor, a local study will also be performed. The effects of Varroa infestation (through drifting from adjacent hives) on Varroa-free colonies and the effect of miticide treatment on Varroa-infested colonies will be studied in a "colony-exchange" experiment with the Bowman group (University of Aberdeen). The objective of this study will be to determine how rapidly colonies which have previously been Varroa-free succumb to Varroa infestation and subsequently an increase in viral levels and decreased diversity is observed, as with the colonies observed in Hawaii (Martin et al. 2012). We will also attempt to "rescue" Varroa infested colonies and observe if the viral population reverts to low level, high diversity based on consistent miticide treatment. The extent to which the viral population changes in the colonies depending on Varroa infestation and treatment will be examined by testing adults, pupae and larvae at frequent intervals and measuring the DWV population diversity using next generation sequencing methods. This will give us a clear idea of the effect of miticide treatment on the virus population and will emphasize the impact of coordinated Varroa control processes such as the one we will perform on Arran.A final objective of this project will be to examine the residues left of an oxalic acid-based miticide treatment for Varroa infested colonies and whether this has a long term accumulative effect on the comb and honey in the colony which may impact the practical use of this treatment for beekeepers. Oxalic acid is an effective treatment chemical, but the long-term effect of the miticide on comb and honey has not been fully investigated. Here we propose using HPLC methodology to investigate the comb chemistry and determine whether the residues are