Beekeeping Diseases
In research laboratories, commercial apiaries and
even urban bee yards scientists and beekeepers have been trying to beat back the advance of some serious diseases
and pests that threaten the honey bee.
This isn’t some “rescue society” attempt to prevent the mistreatment of an insect,
but rather a long view toward trying to save humanity.
I know that sounds grandiose, but when you consider that honey bees are the world’s
major pollinators and that between 25 and 35 per cent of the world’s commercial food crops are pollinated by the
bee, it’s frightening to think what would happen if the bees all die.
That’s not just some fanciful science fiction theory. There’s been lots of evidence
in the last five years that the honey bee, apis
mellifera, is in decline because of a confusing and alarming array of
problems. The worldwide spread of the parasitic mite Varroa Destructor and the growing resistance of other diseases
like Nosema and American Foul Brood to standard antibiotics are responsible for a significant decline in bee
colonies. Varroa alone is blamed for the continental wipeout of feral bee colonies.
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Scientists and beekeepers have risen to the
challenge, and here in B.C. some of the best work in the world is being done to find ways to combat — or live with
— Varroa and other diseases.
One of those is Leonard
Foster, a molecular biologist at
UBC
whose lab is doing two breakthrough studies. One is looking
at how to use genetic markers in bees to identify those which can more effectively fight off varroa and other
diseases.
The other is the sequencing of a “vaccine” using the honey bee’s RNA (similar to
human DNA but not as complex) to trigger a response when the presence of diseases is detected.
Leonard
Foster
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