Grant: Engage Grants Program

Honeybees play a crucial role in maintaining plant diversity and ecosystem stability. Unfortunately, honeybee populations are declining significantly all over the world. Honeybee health is affected by various factors, but a major concern is Varroa destructor mites. To deal with them, beekeepers use chemical pesticides called miticides. Regrettably, honeybees also can absorb and ingest miticides, although they appear to be able to tolerate this to some extent, possibly by breaking down these miticides. We propose to research this locally and globally relevant physiological process. Chemical residues of tau-fluvalinate, and amitraz common miticides, will be assessed using a method called gas chromatography. Briefly, a substance is vaporized, and the time it takes to reach a detector indicates something about its molecular size. The detector produces a plot, similar to what a lie detector does, and larger peaks in the plot indicate the relative concentrations of a molecule. We first add the miticide to know where to look on the plot, and then we repeat this with bees that have been exposed to the same miticide. We can learn more by separately analyzing different bee body parts; for example, brains may be more effective than stomachs. Data collected in this study will enable development of miticide application strategies, in partnership with the Nova Scotia Beekeepers Association (NSBA). In turn, this information will be communicated to Nova Scotia beekeepers with a goal to minimize negative effects of miticides on colony health. Ultimately, this research will develop standardized methods to evaluate suitability of mite treatment programs and potential sublethal effects of chemicals on honeybees. Honeybees worldwide are exposed to both mite and chemical stressors, so results of this research will also be applicable globally.