Oddie, Melissa and Burke, Ashley and Dahle, Bjorn and Le Conte, Yves and Mondet, Fanny and Locke, Barbara
(2021).
Reproductive success of the parasitic mite (Varroa destructor) is lower in honeybee colonies that target infested cells with recapping.
Scientific Reports. 11
, 9133
[Research article]
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Abstract
Cell recapping is a behavioural trait of honeybees (Apis mellifera) where cells with developing pupae are uncapped, inspected, and then recapped, without removing the pupae. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, unarguably the most destructive pest in apiculture world-wide, invades the cells of developing pupae to feed and reproduce. Honeybees that target mite infested cells with this behaviour may disrupt the reproductive cycle of the mite. Hence, cell recapping has been associated with colony-level declines in mite reproduction. In this study we compared the colony-level efficacy of cell recapping (how often infested cells are recapped) to the average mite fecundity in A. mellifera. Our study populations, known to be adapted to V. destructor, were from Avignon, France, Gotland, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway, and were compared to geographically similar, treated control colonies. The results show that colonies with a higher recapping efficacy also have a lower average mite reproductive success. This pattern was likely driven by the adapted populations as they had the largest proportion of highly-targeted cell recapping. The consistent presence of this trait in mite-resistant and mite-susceptible colonies with varying degrees of expression may make it a good proxy trait for selective breeding on a large scale.
Authors/Creators: | Oddie, Melissa and Burke, Ashley and Dahle, Bjorn and Le Conte, Yves and Mondet, Fanny and Locke, Barbara | ||||||
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Title: | Reproductive success of the parasitic mite (Varroa destructor) is lower in honeybee colonies that target infested cells with recapping | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Scientific Reports | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 11 | ||||||
Article number: | 9133 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 7 | ||||||
Publisher: | NATURE RESEARCH | ||||||
ISSN: | 2045-2322 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112250 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112250 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 24514 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 11 Jun 2021 11:03 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 16 May 2022 20:23 |
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