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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411459
Research Project: Managing Honey Bees Against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: Impacts of diverse natural products on honey bee viral loads and health

Author
item Evans, Jay
item Chen, Yanping - Judy
item LAMAS, ZACHARY - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item MARKOWITZ, LINDSEY - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item PALMER-YOUNG, EVAN - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Lopez, Dawn

Submitted to: American Journal of Applied Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/9/2021
Publication Date: 11/13/2021
Citation: Evans, J.D., Chen, Y., Lamas, Z., Markowitz, L., Palmer-Young, E., Boncristiani, D.L. 2021. Impacts of diverse natural products on honey bee viral loads and health. American Journal of Applied Sciences. 11(22). Article eapp112210732. https://doi.org/10.3390/app112210732.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app112210732

Interpretive Summary: Honey bee colony losses can be reduced through careful management of nutrition, diseases, and chemical stress. Prior to colony-level experiments and treatment use it is essential to have repeatable small-scale testing. This testing is best done with worker honey bees in small cages or arenas. We have developed and used an efficient arena system that can be a standard for researchers, regulatory agencies, and industry. By publishing the method and its rationale we hope to speed cures for bee disease, stress, and colony losses.

Technical Abstract: Honey bees and other pollinators face threats from pesticides, imperfect nutrition, and a diverse set of parasites and pathogens. Honey bees are also a research model for development, social behavior, microbiology, and aging. Tackling these questions requires a mix of in-hive and controlled laboratory experiments. We have perfected small-scale, inexpensive, disposable, rearing arenas for honey bees that have proved useful for hundreds of bioassays with thousands of bees. We describe those arenas here and provide links to videos demonstrating their many uses.