Pollinator Pandemic

An emerging threat to Western Apiculture - Topilaelaps mite.

Nature Based or Darwinian Beekeeping is a science based response to pollinator pandemics.

Background

Since the 1950s a set of parasites and pathogens have emerged from one region of the world, East Asia, the origin of the honey bee. Having long lost immunity and resistance to native pathogens, these are now spread to other regions via the cosmopolitan distribution of the honeybee.

Why do viruses, bacteria and parasitic organisms use honeybees (apis mellifera) to expand and spread?

Why so many parasites: honey bees are very successful insects and have used humans to migrate them across the globe. They are incredibly productive, tens of thousands of individuals working together towards a common goal which is to use sophisticated techniques to collect and store significant nutritional and energy dense resources and to thermo-regulate their nests.

Parasitic Small Creatures

The honey bee nests, for other small creatures, are one of the most supportive environments possible. Temperature and humidity are regulated, food is abundant throughout the year, and in the form of carbohydrate honey, pollen protein, and fat from bee larvae. Further, nests are heavily protected by bees. A life cycle in a hive evades natural predators and everything outside it.

Varroa Destructor Mites

The varroa mite has no natural enemies which target them. Generalist enemies, such as pseudoscorpions exist, but are not tolerated by bees, thus  varroa mites are protected from their own parasites when within the hive. This makes honey bee hives an ideal environment for Varroa Destructor, and once ensconced, can breed to become catastrophic parasites and a vector for viruses and bacteria. 

Tropilaelaps Mercedesae Mites 

An emerging threat. In under 100 years the Tropilaelaps Mite has become very successfully learned to exploit their honey bee hosts rapidly, and a stable balance has yet to be found, and so they destroy colonies. Human beekeeping is the source of this outbreak, colonies spaced closer than bees would naturally choose, enable the overly virulent parasite to destroy its own colony, and as one colony collapses, another colony becomes available through honeybee robbing of unprotected hive resources and transfer to another hive. The aggressive parasitic genes are rewarded. Because the western beekeeping system is unnatural, it requires input into the system to continue to function. 

Tropilaelaps mites populations grow two to three times faster than varroa mite populations. A Varroa population can double every 30 days, while a Tropi mite population can double every 7 to 15 days. Tropi mites are now found outside of tropical areas such as in northern Korea and China and . Heat treating and some chemical treatments will reduce mite numbers, however the most effective method indigenous beekeepers use is to introduce successive brood breaks because the mite populations entirely die within about two days because they cannot live off adult bees.

Brood Breaks

Natural beekeeping uses smaller hives, and as in the wild, the limited beehive volume will cause a hive to become 'honey bound', where there are insufficient cells for the queen to lay eggs. As a consequence, this naturally creates a break in the brood, and the food source of the mite.