Climate and landscape influence infestation of Apis mellifera males by Varroa destructor in drone congregation areas

GALINDO-CARDONA, ALBERTO; SCANNAPIECO, ALEJANDRA; ESCALANTE, KAREN; GERIA, MARTÍN; LEPORI, NICOLÁS; AYUP, M. MARTA; RUSSO, ROMINA; MUNTAABSKI, IRINA; LIENDO, M. C.; LANDI, LUCAS; GIRAY, TUGRUL; MONMANY GARZIA, A. CAROLINA

San Juan

Congreso; Puerto Rico Honey Bees and Evolution of Invasive Organisms on Islands; 2019

https://prhb.cs.fiu.edu/conference_abstract.html

Apis mellifera reproduction system involves drones and virgin queens that mate up in the air in sites called drone congregation areas (DCAs). Bees´ parasites, such as Varroa destructor can also be present in the DCAs, causing infestation and subsequent impact on the health of the colonies. The objectives of this study were: 1. to locate DCAs in two eco-climatic regions of Argentina (Buenos Aires (BA): temperate, and Tucumán (TU): subtropical), 2. to determine the genetic variability of the drones at those DCAs, 3. to quantify parasitism by the mite in the surrounding colonies and in the DCAs, and 4. to identify the environmental variables that were more related to percent Varroa at the DCAs (i.e. climate, topography, landscape, hive management). We found 11 DCA in total in 2017 and 2018. The average distance of the DCA to the nearest apiary was 500 m. In the apiaries? of both regions we detected only European lineages (C1, C2J). In the ACZ we found European (C1, C2J) and Africanized (A1, A2) lineages. In the apiaries, infestation with Varroa was 1.90% in TU and 1.14% in BA. In the DCAs, infestation with Varroa was 2.7% in TU and 0.7% in BA. We report the relative contribution of environmental variables to percent parasitism at the DCAs. Our results provide valuable information on an understudied component of bees? reproduction and health, on the dynamics of a lethal cosmopolitan mite, and on bees´ genetic variability.