Life Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Varied Macronutrient Ratios On Honey Bee Tolerance To Iapv Infection, Caitlin Lennon-Puthoff, Alex Payne, Adam Dolezal

PRECS student projects

Honey bees are killed by Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV). Because this virus has no cure, it is important to lessen its impact on bees through proper nutrition. This project explores the effects of differing protein to lipid (P:L) ratios in pollen on honey bee susceptibility to this virus.

Over three trials, bees in cages were incubated for 3 days to resemble hive conditions. Two doses of IAPV (10^-3 & 10^-2) and a negative control were used, along with five P:L ratios (1.5, 2.5, 11.5, 16.5, & 21.5:1) and a sucrose-only diet. These treatment groups were combined …

Association Of Excessive Precipitation And Agricultural Land Use With Honey Bee Colony Performance, Gabriela M. Quinlan, Rufus Isaacs, Clint R. V. Otto, Autumn H. Smart, Meghan O. Milbrath

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Context From landscape variables to weather, multiple environmental factors affect honey bees and other pollinators. Detailed honey bee colony assessments in a variety of landscape and weather conditions offer the opportunity to develop a mechanistic understanding of how landscape composition, configuration, and weather are associated with colony nutrition, demography, and productivity.

Objectives Our objective was to test if weather and landscape characteristics (e.g., agricultural versus forested land use) are associated with different honey bee colony outcomes (foraged nectar mass, foraged pollen mass, pupal population size, and adult population size change).

Methods We collected detailed colony measurements on over 450 honey …