Mathematical assessment of the potential efficacy of continuous Varroa control strategies

近年来，北美和欧洲的蜂群急剧减少。外寄生螨狄斯瓦螨已被确定为这一现象背后的罪魁祸首之一。它是许多蜜蜂传染病的媒介，如急性蜜蜂麻痹病毒，畸形翅病毒和其他与蜂群衰竭有关的疾病。目前应用杀螨剂控制病媒是劳动密集型和破坏性的，并且大多数情况下每年仅应用几次。在这个项目中，我们将开发和使用数学模型来评估利用连续分配策略的抗varroa治疗是否比目前的治疗更有效。在这项研究中，我们将利用常微分方程，优化和数值分析的技术。

Recent years have seen drastic losses of honeybee colonies in North America and Europe. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor has been identified as one of the main culprit behind this phenomenon. It is vector to numerous infectious diseases of the honeybee, such as the Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, the Deformed Wing Virus and others, that have been associated with colony failure. Current applications of varroacides to control the vector are labor intensive and disruptive and are mostly applied only a few times per year. In this project, we will develop and use mathematical models to assess whether anti-varroa treatments that utilize continuous dispensing strategies could be more effective than current treatments. For this research we will utilize techniques from ordinary differential equations, optimization, and numerical analysis.