Monday, December 11, 2006
D0054

Modeling factors influencing within apiary drifting and robbing behavior of honey bees and their effects on Varroa destructor spread among colonies

Michael S. Williams, msw191@psu.edu, Nancy Ostiguy, nxo3@psu.edu, Owen Thompson, omt100@psu.edu, and Diana Cox-Foster, dxc12@psu.edu. Pennsylvania State University, Entomology, 501 ASI, University Park, PA

Secondary infestations of Varroa destructor into neighboring colonies, at the apiary-level, results from honey bees, Apis mellifera, entering foreign colonies both intentionally (robbing) and unintentionally (drifting). Empirical evidence demonstrates a reduction of colony strength (i.e. number of bees in colony) from those colonies in the center of a long row toward those colonies at the ends of the row. However, little research has been conducted on the impact of changing the spatial dimensions of the apiary on intentional and unintentional invasions by foreign bees. Do bees drift with or against the prevailing wind or away from or toward a landmark? Does the distance between colonies influence the number of foreign bees in a colony? Does the number of colonies in an apiary influence the intensity of drifting and robbing? During summer 2006 bees were tracked using various colors of fluorescent powder dyes. Throughout each sampling period, weather, V. destructor and virus data were collected. Intra-apiary robbing/drift parameters are used to calculate secondary V. destructor movement and viral transmission and used to model long term trends and effects on colony-level and apiary-level health.


Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis mellifera (honey bee)
Species 2: Acari Varroidae Varroa destructor (varroa mite)