Varroa destructor infestation impairs the improvement of landing performance in foraging honeybees. Issue 9 (9th September 2020)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Varroa destructor infestation impairs the improvement of landing performance in foraging honeybees. Issue 9 (9th September 2020)
- Main Title:
- Varroa destructor infestation impairs the improvement of landing performance in foraging honeybees
- Authors:
- Muijres, Florian T.
van Dooremalen, Coby
Lankheet, Martin
Lugt, Heleen
de Vries, Lana J.
Van Langevelde, Frank - Abstract:
- Abstract : The parasitic mite Varroa destructor is an important contributor to the high losses of western honeybees. Forager bees from Varroa -infested colonies show reduced homing and flight capacity; it is not known whether flight manoeuvrability and related learning capability are also affected. Here, we test how honeybees from Varroa -infested and control colonies fly in an environment that is unfamiliar at the beginning of each experimental day. Using stereoscopic high-speed videography, we analysed 555 landing manoeuvres recorded during 12 days of approximately 5 h in length. From this, we quantified landing success as percentage of successful landings, and assessed how this changed over time. We found that the forager workforce of Varroa -infested colonies did not improve their landing success over time, while for control bees landing success improved with approximately 10% each hour. Analysis of the landing trajectories showed that control bees improved landing success by increasing the ratio between in-flight aerodynamic braking and braking at impact on the landing platform; bees from Varroa -infested colonies did not increase this ratio over time. The Varroa -induced detriment to this landing skill-learning capability might limit forager bees from Varroa -infested colonies to adapt to new or challenging conditions; this might consequently contribute to Varroa -induced mortality of honeybee colonies.
- Is Part Of:
- Royal Society open science. Volume 7:Issue 9(2020)
- Journal:
- Royal Society open science
- Issue:
- Volume 7:Issue 9(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 7, Issue 9 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 9
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0007-0009-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Subjects:
- insect flight -- parasite -- skill learning -- Apis mellifera -- manoeuvrability -- control
Science -- Periodicals
500 - Journal URLs:
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rsos.201222 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2054-5703
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library STI - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 25056.xml