Institute for Bee Research, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 32, 16540 Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
J Invertebr Pathol. 2011 Nov;108(3):167-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2011.08.006. Epub 2011 Aug 30.
In agriculture, honey bees play a critical role as commercial pollinators of crop monocultures which depend on insect pollination. Hence, the demise of honey bee colonies in Europe, USA, and Asia caused much concern and initiated many studies and research programmes aiming at elucidating the factors negatively affecting honey bee health and survival. Most of these studies look at individual factors related to colony losses. In contrast, we here present our data on the interaction of pathogens and parasites in honey bee colonies. We performed a longitudinal cohort study over 6 years by closely monitoring 220 honey bee colonies kept in 22 apiaries (ten randomly selected colonies per apiary). Observed winter colony losses varied between 4.8% and 22.4%; lost colonies were replaced to ensure a constant number of monitored colonies over the study period. Data on mite infestation levels, infection with viruses, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae, and recorded outbreaks of chalkbrood were continuously collected. We now provide statistical evidence (i) that Varroa destructor infestation in summer is related to DWV infections in autumn, (ii) that V. destructor infestation in autumn is related to N. apis infection in the following spring, and most importantly (iii) that chalkbrood outbreaks in summer are related to N. ceranae infection in the preceding spring and to V. destructor infestation in the same season. These highly significant links between emerging parasites/pathogens and established pathogens need further experimental proof but they already illustrate the complexity of the host-pathogen-interactions in honey bee colonies.
在农业中，蜜蜂作为农作物单一栽培的商业传粉媒介起着至关重要的作用，而这些农作物依赖昆虫传粉。因此，欧洲、美国和亚洲的蜜蜂大量死亡引起了极大的关注，并启动了许多旨在阐明影响蜜蜂健康和生存的负面因素的研究和研究计划。这些研究大多着眼于与蜂群损失有关的个别因素。相比之下，我们在这里介绍我们关于蜜蜂种群中病原体和寄生虫相互作用的数据。我们通过密切监测 220 个养在 22 个蜂箱（每个蜂箱随机选择 10 个蜂群）中的蜜蜂群进行了为期 6 年的纵向队列研究。观察到的冬季蜂群损失在 4.8%至 22.4%之间变化；为了确保在研究期间监测的蜂群数量保持不变，损失的蜂群被替换。连续收集了螨虫感染水平、病毒感染、蜜蜂微孢子虫和中华蜜蜂微孢子虫、以及 chalkbrood 爆发的数据。我们现在提供了统计证据（i）夏季的瓦螨（Varroa destructor）感染与秋季的 DWV 感染有关，（ii）秋季的瓦螨感染与次年春季的蜜蜂微孢子虫感染有关，最重要的是（iii）夏季 chalkbrood 的爆发与前一年春季的中华蜜蜂微孢子虫感染和同年的瓦螨感染有关。这些新兴寄生虫/病原体与已建立的病原体之间的高度显著联系需要进一步的实验证明，但它们已经说明了蜜蜂种群中宿主-病原体相互作用的复杂性。
