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Thymallus said:
CVB, why do you assume that bees that survive with varroa MUST be hygienic?
The paper suggests that other mechanisms are at work.
Click to expand...

Interesting that the tolerance mechanism appears to be saturation with a benign DWV strain that excludes the virulent strain of DWV. I recall reading that breeding resistant/tolerant bees is a huge challenge as you are also selecting for less virulence in the parasite (+ associated viruses and how they interact together).
How successful have the Ron Hoskins selected stock been when used by other beekeepers?
Have the colonies they head been tested by LASI for hygienic behaviour?
 
Jimmy said:
Interesting that the tolerance mechanism appears to be saturation with a benign DWV strain that excludes the virulent strain of DWV. I recall reading that breeding resistant/tolerant bees is a huge challenge as you are also selecting for less virulence in the parasite (+ associated viruses and how they interact together).
How successful have the Ron Hoskins selected stock been when used by other beekeepers?
Have the colonies they head been tested by LASI for hygienic behaviour?
Click to expand...

On re-reading the paper, I concluded that the academics chose the Swindon bees of Ron Hoskins not because they were "hygienic" but because they survived many years without any chemical treatment. Ron's bees are probably the most well-known untreated bees outside other academic institutions, with whom they may not have wished to share their research.

In fact the hygienic bit may or may not be coincidental. As they found out, "In the Varroa-resistant Swindon apiary, once established, the avirulent type B variant appear to prevent the type A from becoming dominant". It seems it's all to do with the DWV variant type B, which may or may not cause a change in the behaviour of either the mites or the host bees that gives the "hygienic" bees their name and characteristic behaviour.

It appears to be all ifs and buts until more research is done on other untreated colonies of both hygienic and non-hygienic bees - then we will know a little more.

CVB
 
I contacted Dr Schroeder at the MBA in Plymouth.

He says "We have secured additional funds to look at these viruses even more closely. I’m afraid that I will not be addressing hygienic behaviour head-on as this area of research lies outside my area of expertise."

We know that Varroa mites mimic the smell of the bees so that the bees cannot detect them by smell but suppose the non-lethal DWV changes the sense of smell of the bees so that they can detect the mites - they'd become "hygienic". I know when I get the common cold virus, my sense of smell changes so it might be worth a punt in order to tie these two phenomena (DWV type B and hygienic behaviour) together.

More research, please.

CVB
 
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charlievictorbravo said:
We know that Varroa mites mimic the smell of the bees so that the bees cannot detect them by smell but suppose the non-lethal DWV changes the sense of smell of the bees so that they can detect the mites - they'd become "hygienic". I know when I get the common cold virus, my sense of smell changes so it might be worth a punt in order to tie these two phenomena (DWV type B and hygienic behaviour) together.
Click to expand...

As I understand it where DWV type B is established it prevents the more deadly type A taking over.

I don't think being infected with type B changes the bees in an way that allows them to cope with varroa.

Simply that the virus that varroa pass on don't kill the bees. There is no evidence I'd seen suggested these apiaries have fewer varroa they just have fewer deadly viruses.

Type B essentially inoculates the bees from type A.
 
domino said:
As I understand it where DWV type B is established it prevents the more deadly type A taking over.

I don't think being infected with type B changes the bees in an way that allows them to cope with varroa.

Simply that the virus that varroa pass on don't kill the bees. There is no evidence I'd seen suggested these apiaries have fewer varroa they just have fewer deadly viruses.

Type B essentially inoculates the bees from type A.
Click to expand...

Oh, I agree with you as far as the evidence is concerned although I'm not sure your second sentence is backed up by any evidence from the research - we simply don't know. Dr Schroeder has said himself that he doesn't want to get into the Hygienic Behaviour thing - he used the Swindon bees because they had not been treated for 8 years, not because they were hygienic.

However, LASI showed that Hygienic Behaviour is a trait that can protect a colony from excessive numbers of Varroa AND DWV type B protects bees from the more deadly type A virus and thereby protects a colony from excessive numbers of Varroa so I was speculating that maybe the two are connected - i.e. the type B virus changes either the bees' or mites' behaviour such that the bees can detect the mites and deal with them by what we call hygienic behaviour.

There are amateur researchers into hygienic behaviour all around the UK who all think they have the answer to a beekeeper's prayer when perhaps all they have is a pocket of bees/mites infected with DWV type B.

Successfully connecting type B virus and hygienic behaviour would close off one blind alley of research and we could all concentrate on distributing the type B virus around the country and forget about so-called hygienic behaviour.

On the other hand, perhaps they (hygienic behaviour and DWV type B) are not connected but coincidentally have the same result i.e. less death from Varroosis.

More research please!

CVB
 
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Seems there is another addition to the Deformed wing virus types, a type C has now been identified, found in an apiary known to suffer from winter losses. Link Here.
What it means....
 
Thymallus said:
Seems there is another addition to the Deformed wing virus types, a type C has now been identified, found in an apiary known to suffer from winter losses. Link Here.
What it means....
Click to expand...

Bad thing is that you do not see any of them. No help about that knowledge.

.
 
.
I do not believe to Swindon honeybees. Or what ever that link means.
Same guys "discussing" about serious things.
.
They wait for Jesus, which take varroa away, and then they treat viruses. Good,

.
 
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