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4 Colony Collapse Disorder Model

Overview

The interactive board has removable pieces to show the before and after of varroa mite infestation. “These drawings depict the different ways a bee can become affected by varroa mites,” Kwong says. With earth magnets attached to the back of the removable pieces, the underlying image shows the infected bee while the top image shows the event of infection.

The 3D model consists of lasercut wood hexagons that resemble honeycomb. They are attached to a foam board, which has sheet metal fastened on the back in order to attach complementary magnets. Each magnet shows a common scene in a honey bee colony that demonstrates Colony Collapse Disorder, known as CCD. The magnets represent the “before” scene, while the images underneath the magnets depict the accompanying “after” scene. This model aims to juxtapose the nascent infiltration of Varroa mites  with the damage they cause to the hive.

Model Description

The team takes a picture of their board set up before the Bio Expo begins. “I built the magnetic board while Jonathan drew the depictions and assembled the 3D wooden honey bee,” Prom says. The interactive board has removable magnetic components and is proportional to the wooden bee, offering a magnified glimpse of a bee’s life.

Varroa mites can become trapped within honey bee brood once the pupa caps, which is one of the earliest stages in which honey bees can be infested by varroa. At this stage, the varroa begins to feed off the hemolymph of the honey bee, which weakens the bee’s health.

The varroa mite is known to be an intermediate host of many honey bee pathogens in addition to causing immunosuppression in honey bees. This magnet shows the vertical transmission of parasites and pathogens. As queens mate with more drones during their mating flight, the chances of spreading disease increases. DWV appears with higher frequency and intensity within a colony when that colony also has a varroa infestation.

Delicately lasercut and assembled, the wooden honey bee is used to help point out various parts of honey bee anatomy during presentation. “These pieces were so fragile and required so much patience, but the end product is quite rewarding,” Kwong says. Positioned on a soldering stand, the wooden bee is proportional to the interactive board in terms of a bee and a honeycomb while a penny is proportional to the size of a varroa mite.

Horizontal transmission of varroa occurs more frequently than vertical transmission. Only the external body parts, such as the head, thorax and abdomen, are affected. When the varroa mite changes host, it also carries its viral particles with itself, increasing the new host’s vulnerability to pathogens. Varroa commonly enters healthy colonies through intercolonial transmission where an infested bee visits a foreign hive and the mite changes hosts in that new environment.

Honey bees have been found to have a mite-biting grooming tactic in which they can identify varroa on other bees, then bite those mites. Colonies with high grooming rates have lower varroa mite populations. Varroa can die or result in damaged legs after being bitten by a bee.

Honey bees can exhibit varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) where bees can identify Varroa mites in the hive and remove mites from brood. To do so, the bee uncaps the infested brood, then takes out the mite and drops it, where it falls to the bottom of the hive.

License

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Honey, I Shrunk the Bee Population Copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Kwong is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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