HOW DOES IN-HIVE PEST MANAGEMENT INFLUENCE THE PATHOGEN INFECTION AND IMMUNITY OF HONEY BEES?

Honey bees are a primary pollinator for many crops in the United States, and their population decline threatens food production, as well as potentially impacting food safety and nutrition. Average annual colony losses in the U.S. are 30 percent, but the specific causes of these losses are still unknown and believed to be multifactorial. This project seeks to investigate factors that may increase the susceptibility of honey bee colonies to Nosema disease and reduce colony health and survival. The goal of this project is to examine the effects of pesticide exposure on pathogen levels and honey bee immunity. The results of these studies will be used for the improvement of management practices to help alleviate colony losses. This project has three specific objectives. The first is to expose colonies to three different pesticides (the pyrethroid miticide fluvalinate used for Varroa mite control, the fungicide chlorothalonil, and fumagillin, the antibiotic used for N. ceranae control) and determine whether such treatments have an impact on N. ceranae levels. The second objective is to determine whether the three pesticides impact commonly detected virus levels in bees. Finally, to determine whether the three pesticides impact the immune responses in bees by examining the expression of several genes involved in immunity.