Honeybee health: combating colony
losses caused by the varroa mite
Dave Chandler1, Laura Baxter2, Jim Bull3, Sally Hilton1, Gill Prince1
1
Warwick Crop Centre 2 Warwick Systems Biology 3 Warwick School of Life Sciences
•
Honeybees are under threat in many countries.
•
The varroa mite is an invasive species that is a key cause
of honeybee decline.
•
It transmits pathogenic viruses that damage bee
development.
•
It has also developed resistance to chemical pesticides.
We are pioneering new
approaches for varroa control :
•
We have shown that insect pathogenic
fungi have potential as biological control
agents.
•
We are using omics technologies to
understand how varroa affects the
bee immune system and causes disease.
Warwick Crop Centre
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/wcc