Occurrence of parasites and pathogens in honey bee colonies used in a European genotypeenvironment Interactions experimentrs 2010/2011 and 2011/2012

Marina Doris Meixner*, Roy Mathew Francis, Anna Gajda, Per Kryger, Sreten Andonov, Aleksandar Uzunov, Grazyna Topolska, Cecilia Costa, Esmaeil Amiri, Stefan Berg, Malgorzata Bienkowska, Maria Bouga, Ralph Büchler, Winfried Dyrba, Kalinka Gurgulova, Fani Hatjina, Evgeniya Ivanova, Mateja Janes, Nikola Kezic, Seppo KorpelaYves Le Conte, Beata Panasiuk, Hermann Pechhacker, George Tsoktouridis, Giacomo Vaccari, Jerzy Wilde

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Diseases are known to be one of the major contributors to colony losses. Within a Europe-wide experiment on genotype - environment interactions, an initial 621 colonies were set up and maintained from 2009 to 2012. The colonies were monitored to investigate the occurrence and levels of key pathogens. These included the mite Varroa destructor (mites per 10 g bees), Nosema spp. (spore loads and species determination), and viruses (presence/absence of acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) and deformed wing virus (DWV)). Data from 2010 to the spring of 2011 are analysed in relation to the parameters: genotype, environment, and origin (local vs. non-local) of the colonies in the experiment. The relative importance of different pathogens as indicators of colony death within the experiment is compared. In addition, pathogen occurrence rates across the geographic locations are described.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)215-229
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of apicultural research
Volume53
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2015

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Coloss
  • Genotype-Environment Interactions experiment
  • Honey bee
  • Nosema spp.
  • Survival
  • Varroa destructor
  • Viruses

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