"Genetic weapon developed against honeybee-killer" - link

[chris]

Just saw this, thought some of you may be interested!

BBC - Earth News - Genetic weapon developed against honeybee-killer

[rana]

Interesting line of research and anything that can help arrest the decline of the honey bee is welcome. However varroa is only part of the issue and bee keepers now have good methods to deal with it including special hive floors and acaricides. The big issue now (particularly in the USA) is colony collapse which as yet is not understood.

[Aberdeenplotter]

That will be absolutely brilliant if it does indeed prove to be effective. I'm so proud that the research is being done in Aberdeen.

[mikebispham]

Sorry to puncture the optimism, but... unfortunately there is a line of reasoning that indicates this will add to the problem. One of the most influential factors bearing on Honeybees is that beekeepers propagate indifferently from both strong and weak colonies. Without a selective system, bees - like all other species - fail to thrive. Supplying treatments in this setting continually sends unfit genes into future generations. The more effective the treatment, the more it weakens the local population.

Mike

[Aberdeenplotter]

Mike,

this treatment is on the mite, not the bees so it isn't going to affect the bee population directly