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Using Beetle Biology to Protect Beehives
By Sharon
Durham November 1, 2007
A new way to lessen damage from small hive beetles in honey bee
colonies has been developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Gainesville, Fla. Small
hive beetles (Aethina tumida) began appearing in U.S. hives during the
past 15 to 20 years and now infest bee colonies throughout the East.
Peter
Teal, leader of the
Chemistry
Research Unit at the ARS
Center
for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, and his
colleagues have developed an apparatus and attractant to help beekeepers
protect their honey bees. A paper on this research recently appeared in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Small hive beetles release a yeast that's highly alluring to fellow
beetles. When the yeast grows on pollen in the hive, it attracts more beetles
and sets off a cascading effect. When the population of beetles explodes, the
disturbed bees leave the hive, according to Teal. This leaves beekeepers
without honey or their bee colonies.
To exploit the small hive beetle's biology, Teal installed traps
baited with the yeast below test hives belonging to cooperating beekeepers. The
traps were separated from hives by sliding doors drilled with conical holes
that allowed the beetles to enter the traps, but not to exit.
The researchers believe these traps will solve the problem for
small-scale beekeepers, which make up 60 percent of the industry. These
small-scale bee keepers tend their hives daily and can clean their traps
frequently. For large-scale beekeepers who maintain up to several thousand
hives, Teal's team hopes to develop a new trap requiring less management.
If perfected, this trap could be a boon to the bee industry in
Florida, which is a common overwintering destination for commercial bee
colonies. A patent for the trap was filed in March 2005. Teal hopes to apply
the same principle to reduce populations of Varroa mites, another significant
pest in honey bee hives.
Read more
about the research in the November/December 2007 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.