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PBT

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Undergrad 10-min: PBT, Pollinators

Determining the effects of nutrition on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pathogen defense against deformed wing virus

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Student Competition On-Demand
Deformed wing virus (DWV) is one of the leading causes of overwinter collapse in managed honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies due to its effects on an individual’s physiology including deformed wings, decreased longevity, and impaired hive task performance. DWV titers are highest in colonies that are heavily parasitized by the mite Varroa destructor, which is a vector of the virus. Organisms have been proven to alter their diets in response to infection of pathogens, either through the increase of the amount of protein in the diet to improve immunity, or through the reduction of the amount of protein to limit nutritional sources available to the pathogen. The objective of this project is to determine if the use of different diets varying in macronutrients (i.e., the ratio of protein to lipids) can be used to manage DWV levels in honey bee colonies. Caged cohorts of nurse-aged bees (25 bees per cage) were given a 50% sugar solution containing a DWV inoculum. No-choice assays were performed with three test diets varying in the protein to lipid ratio (P:L): 40:10, 30:20, 20:30, and unfed controls. Mortality of DWV-infected bees was highest when bees were fed a high protein diet (40:10) and lowest when fed a moderate protein diet (30:20). This project is first of its kind, in that we successfully created a honey bee dietary supplement in which macronutrient ratios can be varied based on presence of pathogens, providing beekeepers with a practical solution to improve overall colony health.