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Scottish Beekeepers' Association Supporting Scotland's Bees and Beekeepers |
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Another species of Varroa mite threatens European honey bees
A sister species of the Varroa destructor mite is developing the ability to parasitize European honeybees, threatening pollinators already hard pressed by pesticides, nutritional deficiencies and disease, a Purdue University study says.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161117103639.htm
Varroa mites are considered the biggest bee health problem
worldwide. Here, a varroa destructor mite has latched on to
the upper-right side of a honey bee's abdomen to feed.
Credit: Purdue University/Tom Campbell
Researchers found that some populations of Varroa jacobsoni mites are shifting from feeding and reproducing on Asian honeybees, their preferred host, to European honeybees, the primary species used for crop pollination and honey production worldwide. To bee researchers, it's a grimly familiar story: V. destructor made the same host leap at least 60 years ago, spreading rapidly to become the most important global health threat to European honeybees.
While host-switching V. jacobsoni mites have not been found outside of Papua New Guinea, Purdue researchers Gladys Andino and Greg Hunt say vigilance is needed to protect European honeybees worldwide from further risk.
"This could represent a real threat," said Andino, a bioinformatics specialist with Information Technology at Purdue. "If this mite gets out of control and spreads, we might have another situation like V. destructor."
Varroa mites are obligate parasites, meaning their lifecycle is inextricably entwined with that of their bee hosts. The mites can do serious damage to their hosts' health due to their relatively large size -- "think of a tick as big as your fist," Hunt said. Mites latch on to bees and feed on their hemolymph, insects' rough equivalent to blood, leaving behind open wounds that are susceptible to infection. They can also transmit diseases such as deformed wing virus and have been linked to colony collapse disorder.
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National Beehive Count 2016
Dear Beekeeper
We are writing to ask for your help in updating your records of the number of overwintering beehives within your apiaries on BeeBase, the National Bee Unit’s database. We would like you to record the total number of overwintering hives as of 1st November 2016. As a result of feedback from last year’s census, we have adapted BeeBase to simplify the data entry process. To complete this year’s hive count please click the link below which will take you to BeeBase. Once logged in, please answer the hive count questions displayed and then click the ‘Submit response’ button. It is as simple as that! Please update your records by 31st December 2016.
Please click this link to update your Hive Count.
The National Beehive Count is aimed at improving our understanding of our honey bee population and how this is changing over time. This fits in with the aims of pollinator and bee health strategies across the UK.
More details of this project, its importance and why we need your help can be found on Beebase.
If you have any security concerns about clicking on the embedded links in this post, you can access Beebase directly from your Internet browser to complete the hive count. Simply log in to BeeBase and select ‘Hive Census’ from the list of options displayed.
We have produced additional guidance on how to update your records within BeeBase. These are included in the attached Frequently Asked Questions document.
The project is led by the National Bee Unit and supported by Defra, Welsh Government, Scottish Government, DAERA, the British Beekeepers Association, the Welsh Beekeepers Association, the Scottish Beekeepers Association, International Bee Research Association, and the National Diploma in Beekeeping.
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Bleddyn Lake of Friends of the Earth Cymru launched the Action Plan for Pollinator Task Force’s new initiative, Bee Friendly/Caru Gwenyn at the Wales Biodiversity Conference.
Bee Friendly is a brand new initiative aimed at communities and community organisations, schools, public bodies, town and community councils, businesses, universities and colleges, places of worship……and many other organisations, all around Wales.
We think it is the first co-ordinated national scheme of its kind and has at its heart – making Wales a Pollinator- Friendly country.
Although the scheme is called Bee Friendly, we want people to take action to help all our pollinators, and not just bees.
Whether you are a part of a Bee Friendly scheme, a member of one of our many supporter organisations or a concerned individual, take a look to see what actions you can take to make our world a little bit greener – discover the Bee Friendly Action Guide Cymraeg, the Bee Friendly Action Guide English, the Bee Friendly Flyer Cymraeg, the Bee Friendly Flyer English, the FAQ, application form and plant list.
All the resources are available on the Action Plan for Pollinators section of the Wales Biodiversity Partnership website
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The Honey Bee Algorithm
What is the most efficient, and profitable, way to allocate computer servers to ever-changing internet traffic? Researchers funded by the national Science Foundation (NSF) turned to honey bees to find the solution.
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