Ongoing Honeybee Health Research Projects

NAPPC and Burt's Bees: Partnering for Honeybee Health

The mysterious disappearance of bees, called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is a growing threat to honeybees, the mainstay of pollination services in agriculture. The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), a tri-national coalition dedicated to promoting the health of all pollinators and a project of the Pollinator Partnership, is teaming up with bee-friendly, natural personal care company Burt’s Bees to address this environmental issue. Together, they are spearheading a campaign led by Burt’s Bees co-founder Burt Shavitz that will raise consumer awareness through PSA distribution, online marketing and consumer sampling efforts. NAPPC and Burt’s Bees will continue their partnership through research funding and a heightened awareness push later this year.

Click here to read the press release

Click here to view the Colony Collapse Disorder public service announcement

Honeybee Health Improvement Project

The Honeybee Health Improvement Project will focus on ways to help honeybees and beekeepers. In the absence of Colony Collapse Disorder, this task force will seek out and secure funding for innovative and important work to understand and promote genetic stock improvements, understand and promote best management practices for commercial beekeeping, and promote forage opportunities for colonies on public and private land.

Honey Bee Health NAPPC Task Force

*Co-Chairs

NEW Honeybee Health Research Projects Funded in 2009

The project will investigate the interactive effects of two of the leading factors involved in
the maintenance of honey bee health: nutrition and the Varroa mite. The research will manipulate food availability and a fungus (Beauveria bassiana) pathogenic to Varroa mites in a factorial design at the colony level in up to 100 colonies. Pesticides in honey bees will be also measured at different sites, providing additional understanding of the relative importance of pesticides, and their interactions with food availability and Varroa mites, to honey bee health. Existing honey bee colonies established by Missouri honey beekeepers will be used in this experiment, encouraging partnerships and information exchange between academic researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and local apiculturists.

The effects of pesticides on immature honey bee (Apis mellifera) development
James D. Ellis, Associate Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida

This research project will assess the effects of pesticides on immature honey bees. Toxicological effects of 5 insecticides (chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid, amitraz, fluvalinate, coumaphos), 2 fungicides (mycobutanil, chlorothalonil), and 2 herbicides (glyphosate, simazine) will be evaluated on developing bee larvae and pupae. The hypothesis will be tested that exposure to these pesticides while feeding significantly reduces the probability that larvae will survive to adulthood. Pesticidal effects on immature bees are often overlooked in general toxicological studies targeting honey bees.

Genetic analysis:  A novel tool to identify and select enhanced Varroa resistant honey bees
J. Spencer Johnston, Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M

Since its introduction in the late 1980's the mite, Varroa distructor has been the principal threat to honey bee viability in the US. Resistance of the mite to chemical control is widespread and chemical contamination of honey, wax and propolis is a significant concern.  Breeding Varroa resistant honey strains is clearly of paramount importance for the survival of the honey bee industry.  Newly available information from the whole genome sequencing project provides a valuable new tool that the project will use to design a SNP based assay that can be used to identify Varroa resistance in existing bees. The assay will help beekeepers identify the most resistant of their colonies and identify genetic variation missing from existing colonies.

Designing a field test to estimate the nutritional status of honey bee colonies in the field and evaluating effects of pollen quality on honey bee physiology and behavior
Ramesh Sagili, Assistant Professor-Apiculture, Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University

Nutritional stress or poor nutrition is one among several potential factors attributed for colony
collapse disorder by the CCD working group. In the wake of deteriorating honey bee health,
honey bee nutrition has attained greater importance than ever. Currently there is no test available to assess the nutritional state of honey bee colonies on the spot in the field.  Knowing the nutritional status of their colonies is vital for beekeepers in order to provide timely balanced nutrition for maintaining healthy and strong colonies. Beekeepers will immensely benefit if they are able to assess the nutritional state of their colonies in the field.  The project seeks to (1) design a field test to assess the nutritional status of honey bee colonies in the field, and (2) evaluate and compare the effects of single source pollen (almond) consumption versus mixed source pollen consumption on colony growth and learning behavior in the honey bee.

The benefits of propolis to the immune system of honey bees: Do bees self-medicate?
Marla Spivak, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota

Some plants secrete a complex resin with diverse antimicrobial properties as a defensive compound for plant wound healing and as a physical barrier around budding leaves to prevent invasion by pathogens and insects.  Bees collect the resins on their hind legs and carry it back to the nest where it is used to seal holes and crevices in the nest cavity.  The resin is called propolis by beekeepers.  This research project will further examine how propolis, assists in the immune defense of bees against pathogens and the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor.  In a recent project, researchers noticed that the number of propolis resin foragers in colonies challenged with chalkbrood (a fungal disease of bee brood) increased, while the number of resin foragers in unchallenged colonies remained constant during the same time course. If these results are repeatable, it would indicate that the bees may be self-medicating.

Honeybee Health Research Projects funded in 2008

Effects of miticide and Fumagilin-B® on honey bee survivorship and immune responses
Catherine M Little, M.Sc. candidate, Acadia University

Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) are exposed to a number of parasites.  Varroa destructor, Nosema apis, and N. ceranae have particularly detrimental effects on colony productivity and survival.  We will measure honey bee immune responses to infection by each of these three species of parasites and the effects of co-infection.  We will then compare the results of infection with the effects of miticide and Fumagilin-B® use on honey bee physiology.  Quantification of immune trade-offs which occur during infection by multiple parasites and the effects of standard chemical treatments may enable us to determine infection threshold levels for effective use of chemical treatments, thereby reducing the risk of chemical resistance developing in either Varroa or NosemaWe will also determine if immune protein concentrations resulting from parasitic infection are predictive of honey bee survival, potentially leading to a means of assessing mortality risk during preparations for over-wintering honey bee colonies. (See Pictures Below)

An early look at participating colonies and over-wintering sites, March 2008

Little and Williams completing detailed colony condition assesments, May 2008

A promising sign: emerging new bees in spring, May 2008

Assessment of Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid on Honey Bee and Colony Health. Galen P. Dively and Mike Embrey, Department of Entomology,University of Maryland

While the extent and causes of CCD are unknown, many believe that honey bees have reached a tipping point wherein the colony can no longer protect itself from a barrage of problems. The CCD Working Group developed an action plan of research that addresses four categories of factors that impact bee and colony health: 1) new or re-emerging pathogens; 2) bee pests; 3) environmental and nutritional stresses; and 4) pesticides. This project will address the latter category and examine the sublethal effects of pesticides, which is one of the priority areas identified by the HBHI Task Force for funding.

Nutritional Effects on Intestinal Health and Longevity of Honey bee Workers
Olav Rueppell, Dept. of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

This research project seeks to identify the effects of diet quality and malnutrition on the health of the honey bee worker intestine, as assessed by the activity of their intestinal stem cells. The intestinal epithelium is crucial to organismal health and it is one of the most exposed tissues in the animal body. Its cells are continuously replaced in a wide variety of organisms (Finch and Kirkwood 2000). Although early reports on proliferative cells in the intestine of insects exist (Snodgrass 1956), these cells have only recently been characterized as bona-fide stem cells in adults through molecular analyses in Drosophila (Micchelli and Perrimon 2006; Ohlstein and Spradling 2006). A certain level of cell proliferation is necessary to maintain a functional intestine, even in the adult insect. Thus, the activity of these cells has been linked to insect growth (Hakim et al. 2007) and they are responsive to toxin exposure (Loeb et al. 2001; Gregorc et al. 2004). Furthermore, their rate of cell proliferation is positively correlated with food quality (Zudaire et al. 2004). Thus, the proliferative activity of intestinal stem cells may be an indicator of malnutrition with direct relevance to bee health. (See picture of project below)

Diagnostic gene panel for honey bee breeding and disease management
Jay D. Evans and Yanping Chen, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory

Honey bees face numerous challenges, from nutritional stress to dedicated parasites and
pathogens. A long-term goal of bee research is to develop and maintain honey bee lines
that are resistant to disease, and that thrive with a minimum of chemical treatment of
disease agents. New molecular-genetic tools can aid research on breedable traits, and,
ultimately, these tools could be used directly by commercial bee breeders or others in the private sector. Beekeepers also rely on disease indicators and established thresholds while making management decisions. Such decisions could also be helped by genetic indicators for pests and for bee health.

This gene panel would differ from previous entries into disease forensics (e.g.,
Evans, 2006) by including only the most informative markers, alongside reportable
diseases found in bee colonies. In so doing, the panel can be cheaply applied to bee
problems, and can also be ‘exported’ to future technologies for bee diagnostics and genetic research.

The Benefits of Propolis to the Immune System of Honey Bees
Marla Spivak, Dept Entomology, University of Minnesota

We have initiated a comprehensive line of research in my lab on the benefits of propolis collection to the immune system of honey bees. Propolis is a resin secreted by some plants that honey bees collect and deposit in the nest. Propolis has important antimicrobial value to humans, but its value to the bees is not known. Here I am requesting funds to test if colonies selectively bred for high- and lowpropolis collection differ in immune-related gene transcript levels. The applied goals of this research are to promote the natural immune defenses of honey bees and to promote the human use of propolis as an antimicrobial value-added product from the beehive.

Enabling genetic selection for resistance to viral pathogens: Developing a rapid and inexpensive cytometric method for screening honey bees for viral resistance. Dr. J. Spencer Johnston, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University- Funded by Dr. Peter Swift, GDS Legacy Foundation and Reid and Margaret E. Dennis

Preliminary evidence suggests that honey bee strains are more resistant to IAPV than honey bee lines from other sources.  We propose to use quantitative PCR, flow cytometry and direct monitoring of colony health to rapidly compare changes in blood cells number, pathogen titre and colony level response.  We hypothesize that it will be possible to use flow cytometry to distinguish resistant bees from susceptible bees and evaluate the efficacy or extent of immune response to viral infection.  If we are correct, then the results of the flow cytometry experiments could be used (in the place of more time consuming and expensive field trials) to quickly assess the presence or absence of viral resistance in aid of breeding programs to develop or propagate virus resistant honey bees.   Perhaps more importantly, flow cytometry should reveal whether differential immune responses correlate with virus resistant phenotypes, offering clues to some mechanisms of viral resistance.

PODCAST: Click Here to hear an recent update of Johnston's HBH Project

Changes in hormonal and protein levels in honey bees that are experiencing migratory transportation. Zachary Huang, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University

Aside from pesticides, perhaps the strongest stress honey bees experience comes from
long distance transportation, commonly used for pollination purposes. For example, bees can transported from Maine to California, across four different time zones. No studies have ever been conducted to determine the physiological or behavioral changes induced by such stress. In this study, I propose to piggyback with Dr. Jeff Pettis’s group to obtain data on physiological changes in honey bees that are experiencing migratory transportation. The objectives of this study is to 1) measure changes in juvenile hormones in bees that are being transported from Florida to California, and 2) determine the protein nutrition of the same bees. Proper control will be obtained from bees which are staying in Florida.

Update 5/19/08: We are currently measuring the hormone levels in groups of bees in Bakersfield, CA and Boston, GA. We still have to thaw the bees and bleed them for the CA samples. We might do a third trial if we see something interesting.