New tools for Varroa mite management in beekeeping

蜜蜂是现代农业景观中最重要的生态服务提供者之一：它们负责大约90%的授粉，以产生种子和/或高质量的水果和产品。由于养蜂和农业的加强，蜜蜂遭受致命的寄生虫和疾病的折磨，这些疾病可能会导致蜂群突然崩溃。Varroa destructor是一种蜜蜂特有的外部寄生蠕虫，是蜜蜂最严重的病原体之一，因为这种蠕虫会将严重的病毒性疾病传播给蜜蜂。这些尘螨在蜂巢细胞内繁殖，后代与新蜜蜂一起出现。然后，这些成虫寄生在成年工蜂身上，直到它们找到新的蜂巢进行繁殖。成虫有选择地感染“哺乳”蜜蜂--照顾发育中的后代的蜜蜂--从而确保它们能够接触到下一代蜜蜂。螨类通过其独特的化学特征来检测它们的成虫和幼虫。我们建议测试一些化学物质，这些化学物质可以改变螨类的宿主选择，从哺乳蜜蜂转变为另一种工蜂--觅食者，和/或使螨类瘫痪，从而增加它们的死亡率。我们在实验中发现了这些化学物质，这些实验测试了螨虫根据蜜蜂气味在新杀死的护士和觅食蜜蜂之间做出选择的能力，并测试了螨虫对蜜蜂气味和我们的化学物质的反应。在这里，我们建议在有活蜜蜂的笼子里进行测试，并在第二年和第三年，在小蜂群中使用最活跃的化学物质进行田间测试。我们还将搜索我们发现的活性化学品的目标位置。养蜂人渴望在可持续的综合管理计划中使用新的防螨剂，因为以前使用的防尘剂不再有效，而且几乎没有替代品。

Honey bees are among the most important ecological service providers in modern agricultural landscapes: they are responsible for approximately 90% of pollination needed to produce seeds and/or high quality fruit and produce. Due to intensification of beekeeping and agriculture, bees suffer from deadly parasites and diseases that can lead to sudden collapse of bee colonies. Varroa destructor, a honey bee-specific external parasitic mite, is among the most serious disease agents of honey bees, because the mites transmit crippling viral diseases to bees. These mites reproduce within bee brood cells, and the offspring emerge with the new bees. These adult mites then parasitize adult worker bees until they find new bee brood for their reproduction. The adult mites selectively infect 'nurse' bees - bees that care for the developing offspring - thereby ensuring that they have access to the upcoming generation of bees. Mites detect their adult hosts and the brood by their unique chemical signatures.We propose to test chemicals that change the host selection of the mites, from nurse bee to another type of worker bee, the 'forager', and/or paralyze the mites and thereby increase their mortality. We discovered these chemicals in experiments that tested the ability of mites to choose between a freshly killed nurse and forager bee, based on the bee odors, and in which the responses of the mite to bee odors and our chemicals were tested. Here we propose tests in cages with live bees and, in years 2 and 3, field tests with the most active chemicals in small colonies. We also will search for the target site of the active chemicals we find. Beekeepers are hungry for new mite control agents to use in sustainable, integrated management programs, because previously used mite control agents are no longer effective, and there are few replacements.