Could Varroa Resistant "California Bees" Hold Key To Solving The Problem?

WEBVTT

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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct each act in service to the whole and

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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

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the bees' needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping

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presented by our great friends and partners in

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beekeeping. Man Lake. Here's the question of

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the day. Have we found a solution to varroa mites?

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Can we see it in the near future? Today's interview

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features researchers from the University of California

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Riverside who have been studying a possible answer

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and spoiler alert it's not a new treatment it's

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genetics. I think you'll find it super interesting

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but first and not to get confused with my previous

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statement Here's a story fresh out of Australia

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about what they're working on to knock down the

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mites. According to a study led by the University

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of the Sunshine Coast, researchers have identified

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components in the venoms of the Tasmanian cave

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spider and the giant Japanese funnel web spider

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that killed Varroa without harming the bees.

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Lead author, associate professor Volker Herzig

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said, we screened 50 venoms mostly from spiders

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and scorpions by applying them externally to

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the mites. We found more than 75 % killed the

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mites within 24 hours. We selected two of the

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most potent spider venoms for further analysis.

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We isolated a specific component called a peptide

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from each of these two venoms and applied them

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to the bodies of The peptides killed only the

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mites while the bees survived. These peptides

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are fully biodegradable and our findings suggest

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they could be developed into a commercial sustainable

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treatment for varroa mite infestation in honey

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bees. The study also includes collaborators from

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the University of Queensland, the University

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of Oslo, Ghent University in Belgium, and the

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Swiss Bee Research Center Agroscope in Switzerland.

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The next steps would include testing the two

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peptides by applying them in mite -infested beehives

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to assess how well they work under real -world

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conditions. There's hope coming from all kinds

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of directions, so stay tuned. I'd like to welcome

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two really fun guests to the show today. We've

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got Genesis Chong and Owen Wagner coming to us

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from UC Riverside. How are you guys this afternoon?

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Hi, Eric. Thank you for the invitation. It's

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really, really nice. The weather, it's getting

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very warm in here, but it's kind of funky. Last

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week was cold and this week it's warm again.

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I don't think your cold is the same as the cold

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where I live. I've been to Riverside. Does that

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mean it was like only 75 in the afternoon or

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something? Pretty much. But it gets really windy

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and bees don't like it that much. There's a good

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place to jump in. Why don't bees like wind? Usually,

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I mean this is anecdotally, I like to have the

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hive entrances facing away from where like the

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direction of prevailing wind is, because if that

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comes into the hive entrance, that draft is going

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to chill the brood. It makes it hard for them

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to, you know, maintain homostasis within the

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colony, so. You know, I've never seen a study

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on this and you guys are the smart ones. You

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know, you're at the university, so I'm going

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to ask you this question. I expect a good answer.

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Okay, here we go. And that is... up to about

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what wind velocity can bees fly? Because if it's

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too hard of a wind, they just can't. I have no

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idea. I actually don't know off the top of my

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head either. All right. Topic for your next PhD.

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To Google it, yeah. But that's a very interesting

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question. I never thought about it. Today we're

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going to be talking about the research that's

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happening out there at UC Riverside. All about

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Varroa, Can I call them Varroa resistant bees?

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Is that going too far? Yes and no because I do

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agree with you that they do show certain like

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phenotypic evidence that they are resistant however

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we still haven't like figured it out. the mechanisms,

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like, okay, what's making them resistant towards

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demise? Like, why they have, like, mind levels

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under the threshold and why they don't get that

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affected as other stuff of colonies, like honeybees?

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But so far, they have been showing, like, a certain

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type of resistance that we still don't... are

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not completely sure how does that work, like...

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Yeah, we have some hints and with that study

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we got directions on where to follow up with

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that. Okay, well time out, we're getting just

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a little bit ahead of ourselves. I think it would

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make sense to give us just an overall summary.

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of what the research was without using too technical

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of terms, okay? Okay. So just an overall summary,

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here's what we did, here's what we're trying

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to find out, and here's some of the things we've

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learned so far. I'm the apiary manager, so I

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was working in the field with these research

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hives, but conclusions for the project, it's

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here. Basically, how it started, it was that

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we keep cyber, that it's part of my lab, we keep

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a very close relationship. with the beekeeping

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clubs. And from beekeepers, we kept hearing that,

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oh yeah, feral bees, somehow they show a different

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behavior towards the mites that they don't need

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to treat them as often. Their colonies, sometimes

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they don't get that harm by the mites. So we

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also, in our APIRE, we do evaluations regularly.

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every three weeks so then we can have like an

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overview of the colonies and what was surprisingly

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is that in terms of four years we were like analyzing

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the data that we took from the evaluations and

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we found that there was a trend. We call it Californian

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bees because of the beekeepers like that's why

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they have like these Californian bees because

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feral sometimes can sound kind of like these

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are Africanized bees, which they are, but they

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are hybrids. They have a certain Africanization

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degree. And if we compare that with the ones

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from Central America, Mexico or South America,

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they do have like a smaller Africanization degree.

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Just jumping in for a second to I think an important

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distinction to make. when we're talking about

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the language that we use with these types of

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bees and moving away from feral, is that we're

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seeing a lot of beekeepers. I mean, we also work

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with these bees in a managed environment. So

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there's like a certain process of re -domestication

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that's occurred. Like these bees are not feral.

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We are keeping them long -term in Langstroth

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hives, multi -generational colonies in the field

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that we have tight data. that we've been tracking

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and recording for upwards of like five to six

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years. So let me make sure that I understand

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that then. And maybe we just don't have the right

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terminology, but you're talking about bees that

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are not straight Italian or straight Carniolan

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or something like that. You've got bees that

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are, quote, Californian bees. And probably you

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could narrow that down to Southern California,

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I would think. And they have genetics from Africanized

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bees. I assume Italians may be some feral of

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some other things. In other words, they've hybridized

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themselves over time. And bees can do that pretty

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fast. Yeah, and that's the beautiful part of

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these because... California it's a hub for the

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pollination and for the almond pollination they

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get how many colonies they get like more or less

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I don't know the exact count but I mean it's

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one of the largest pollination events in North

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America I think it's one of the largest pollination

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events in the whole world two million colonies

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roughly it's huge yeah and the bees that get

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sent to almond pollination those are commercial

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stocks that have been like purchased for like

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from a breeder and these breeder usually they

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terms to like narrow down like traits like honey

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production, behavior of the colony and just like

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performance in general. So those are like the

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like the genotype or like the stock that is surrounding

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that area. So that always get to mate with different

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colonies around. So that creates a type of hybridization.

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So when we are looking at the ancestry of these

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bees, perhaps, like, okay, what lines does these

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bees have in them? We can find a type of European

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ancestry, Middle East ancestry. So they tend

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to be very diverse. But we think that that's

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because of the environment that it's around that

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beekeepers keep having this stock of commercially

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colonies from breeders that in some way keep

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this diversity on deferral colonies that then

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we keep in our PREs. I don't know if you... So

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for your control groups, you had these, quote,

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California bees. And then you must have had some

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other bees that were non -California bees. What's

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the terminology we're using for those? Well,

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for those ones we were using just like commercial

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colonies, colonies that we got from breeders.

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And then we keep them in a common apiary. So

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they have like in a common garden. Usually when

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we do, well not usually, when we do like experiments

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and projects, all the colonies are in the same

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place. So then they get the same resources around,

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same environment. And basically, what we were

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comparing was the number of mice that these colonies

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were having. in a period of four years. At the

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end were like 236 colonies I believe but that

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total of colonies was the total colonies that

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were among like those four years. Some of them

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died, we got new ones, some of them did survive

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like longer and they were able to be like multiple

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generations but we didn't add like that detailed

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information into the article because for us what

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we were interested in was okay let's see the

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number of demise that they have and let's see

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how often we were treating these two groups because

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we were treating these groups we don't have like

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an actual like like survival in reflected in

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in the article because then yeah. So what did

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you find about these California bees? How did

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they deal with mites better or worse than your

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control group of bees? They manage it spectacularly.

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If you have a commercial colony, right, and you

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don't treat for Varroa, I would expect like that

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colony to not make it to the end of the year.

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If you establish it as like a package at the

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beginning of the season, like in spring, even

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by, I mean, by summer, you're going to see the

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mite level skyrocket. And then by fall, you're

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going to see the population of the bees plummet.

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A lot of that is, you know, expressed through

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like deformed wing virus, which we almost never

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see in like this California group that we were

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examining in the project. And you also just don't

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see that type of colony collapse. You can have

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very large hives. I'm talking like two to three

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deep boxes full of bees going into like late

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fall and winter at that zero treatment. And you're

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not seeing really any negative effects. that

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we associate with like a high Varroa presence

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in the colony. I think the question I have then

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is, are they dealing with Varroa better or do

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they have less Varroa? That's a good question

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because we needed, we kind of like start from

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the baseline, just like finding or proving the

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difference that beekeepers have been seeing the

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field, like observations that we have seen the

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field. So we kind of tried to test it so in that

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article we don't have any mechanism like okay

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the colonies do this and this is why they are

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able to survive better however from the field

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we got okay californian colonies they tend to

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to be barely treated against the mines and often

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they do keep the noceman counts under the threshold

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There are some experiments that has been done

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here in the lab and in San Diego where they have

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found no relationship with hygienic behavior.

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So that was kind of another direction that we

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took. Okay, if there is no huge difference in

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hygienic behavior, what's going on? Why they

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are keeping their mind levels on their threshold?

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So what we did was we were comparing larvae from

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these two stocks, and then we were using some

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plates as observational arena. In the first part,

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we used four different ages. from those larvae

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brought from the two different stocks and they

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were in the same plate. And in the middle of

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that plate what we did was we put some mites

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in the middle, we released them at the same time

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and then we record that for two hours. and every

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15 minutes we will quantify or we will see like

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okay if a mite was in the area of one stock or

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the other one a mite in the area of a specific

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age which was very similar or the same as what

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we know in the literature that the mites larvae

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around six to seven days old before they get

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capped. So then they can go into the root cell

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and hide on the bottom of that cell until that

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larvae get capped and start the pupation process

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where the mite will feed from that larvae and

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will start their reproductive cycle. It will

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start laying eggs. Let me just make sure I understand.

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It looks like the difference in the two kinds

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of bees. is happening in the larval stage of

00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.919
the bees and is it that the Varroa is not as

00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.900
interested in the larva of the California bees

00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:09.619
or is it some other mechanism? From that experiment

00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:15.339
we found that the mites seem to be less attractive

00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:19.299
to the Californian larvae because the reproductive

00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:23.460
cycle for the mite is so important so finding

00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:27.029
the perfect holes or the perfect like larvae

00:17:27.029 --> 00:17:30.369
for them to reproduce it's a moss that they need

00:17:30.369 --> 00:17:34.289
to do it right and how they they communicate

00:17:34.289 --> 00:17:37.349
like with chemical communication and stuff so

00:17:37.349 --> 00:17:40.809
from those findings we go like different directions

00:17:40.809 --> 00:17:44.690
that we were able to explore quick break to discuss

00:17:44.690 --> 00:17:48.000
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00:18:39.180 --> 00:18:45.930
code MLBlove10. Perhaps it could be the larvae

00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:49.529
emit a different smell when it see it feel like

00:18:49.529 --> 00:18:53.190
the presence of the mites or Maybe the mites

00:18:53.190 --> 00:18:56.450
like them less because when they eat from them

00:18:56.450 --> 00:18:59.170
They don't get like the nutrients that they need

00:18:59.170 --> 00:19:03.630
to to lay eggs or all these type of theories,

00:19:03.750 --> 00:19:09.579
but What we did was we did an experiment where

00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:13.359
we had eight colonies from commercial and eight

00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:17.599
colonies from Californian ones. And what we did

00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:21.970
was from deep established colonies. We did splits

00:19:21.970 --> 00:19:25.470
and put them into nukes and then they all start

00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:28.430
with the same... We tried to make them start

00:19:28.430 --> 00:19:32.329
with the same amount of workers, brood frames,

00:19:32.569 --> 00:19:35.089
food frames from the colony and with queens.

00:19:35.509 --> 00:19:38.130
And then they all start from the same baseline.

00:19:38.349 --> 00:19:41.390
And then from then we didn't treat them, we didn't

00:19:41.390 --> 00:19:45.730
give them any supplement or anything. Those colonies

00:19:45.730 --> 00:19:50.140
already came with their baseline of demise. Since

00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:52.720
we didn't treat them or anything, and because

00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.559
they were splits, they were just carrying the

00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:58.200
mites that they were having in their dips. We

00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:01.900
evaluated them for a period of four months. After

00:20:01.900 --> 00:20:07.140
that, we had infestation day, where we collected

00:20:07.140 --> 00:20:12.180
mites from sugar shakes rolls, and then we took

00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:17.220
100 mites and we randomly assigned to four of

00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:20.039
the eight colonies, the mites, and the other

00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:23.519
four were kind of controls because we wanted

00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:26.579
to hammer colonies to see what happened if I

00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:29.619
have like these two groups of colonies and then

00:20:29.619 --> 00:20:34.299
I'm inducing a high infestation of mites plus

00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:36.759
the mites that they already are dealing with.

00:20:36.940 --> 00:20:40.140
What will happen for us will be okay. Colonies

00:20:40.140 --> 00:20:43.299
will collapse because they also were in nukes

00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:47.259
so they have like less phase. What we found was

00:20:47.259 --> 00:20:51.859
really interesting because after that induction

00:20:51.859 --> 00:20:55.859
of infestation, we were like, besides like the

00:20:55.859 --> 00:21:01.000
evaluations, we were inspecting root frames and

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.980
we were opening cells with pupae that are dark

00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:09.559
eye. So by that time, the mite already have offspring

00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:13.420
within the cell and we were quantifying some

00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:17.680
mother mite, it got reproduction because have

00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.599
like offspring, it does have a male or oh, there

00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:26.519
is a mother mite and the pupa it's dark eye and

00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:30.299
she doesn't have offsprings. Yeah, we're still

00:21:30.299 --> 00:21:33.440
working on that article that's coming but it's

00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:37.230
really interesting because So far we found out

00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:40.329
there is something going on between the brute

00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:43.809
and the might that somehow the might sometimes

00:21:43.809 --> 00:21:47.950
it's not able to reproduce. Genesis, why do you

00:21:47.950 --> 00:21:50.990
think this is? That's a really interesting question

00:21:50.990 --> 00:21:55.140
because after that... we were looking into the

00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:58.680
larvae B blood we were looking into the hemolymph

00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.880
to try to see okay if there is maybe when they

00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.599
are in the in the presence of the mind will they

00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:08.839
kind of release component in their body that

00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:12.769
then when the mind bite will make them not able

00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:16.269
to reproduce but at the same time we were also

00:22:16.269 --> 00:22:19.650
trying to get the chemical communication of of

00:22:19.650 --> 00:22:23.009
those larvae in the present of the mind and without

00:22:23.009 --> 00:22:26.569
minds and we still are mastering that out to

00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:29.829
see okay maybe when they are in the present of

00:22:29.829 --> 00:22:33.109
the mind they do release like different chemical

00:22:33.109 --> 00:22:35.769
components that make them less attractive or

00:22:35.769 --> 00:22:41.319
something like that Owen two sentences Why do

00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:45.059
we think that it's different for these California

00:22:45.059 --> 00:22:49.660
bees? Bottom line answer, based off of the data

00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:51.960
that we are looking at, that we're seeing, right?

00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:56.200
We know quantifiably that the mites are experiencing

00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:59.519
much lower rates of reproductive success in these

00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:03.319
California hives compared to their commercial

00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:05.900
counterparts. And that that is all happening

00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:08.819
in the brood chamber. When we look at like the

00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.700
lab work that we did in the past with like the

00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:14.099
choice selection with the different larva and

00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:16.420
then just understanding like the mite reproductive

00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:19.839
cycle. There is a critical component that is

00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:23.599
happening in secret, in a sense, encapsulated

00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:26.539
away in the brew chamber and like really what

00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:29.200
is going on there we do not have a definitive

00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.940
answer for at the moment. We needed to even just

00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:34.539
get to this point. We started with that question

00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:38.950
of like, why are we just seeing this might resistance

00:23:38.950 --> 00:23:41.529
in this population right and we need to also

00:23:41.529 --> 00:23:44.329
quantify like are we actually seeing that or

00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:47.869
are we just looking for an exciting story. And

00:23:47.869 --> 00:23:50.150
you know that's years of collecting that field

00:23:50.150 --> 00:23:52.569
data and then be okay no with this this is this

00:23:52.569 --> 00:23:55.569
is quantifiable this is real and then just working

00:23:55.569 --> 00:23:58.470
from there. It's been really exciting it's been

00:23:58.470 --> 00:24:01.009
it's been a journey for sure and i think we're

00:24:01.009 --> 00:24:03.029
really on like the cusp of i think being able

00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:06.049
to figure it out too. It is. It's super cool.

00:24:06.450 --> 00:24:08.890
And this is why I'm not a researcher, because

00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.990
I'm way too impatient. So I'm like, let's get

00:24:11.990 --> 00:24:14.349
to it here. So the cool thing is you've figured

00:24:14.349 --> 00:24:17.269
out where it's happening. It's in the brood chamber.

00:24:17.490 --> 00:24:21.369
And now it's a matter of why. Is it a pheromone

00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:24.529
smell? Is it, I don't know, do they taste bad?

00:24:24.890 --> 00:24:27.609
They don't have the same kind of nutrition that

00:24:27.609 --> 00:24:30.210
those commercial colonies did. It's got to be

00:24:30.210 --> 00:24:33.619
something along those lines. Once that kind of

00:24:33.619 --> 00:24:36.839
thing is figured out, then maybe something can

00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:40.299
be taken. Let's say it is a smell, that for some

00:24:40.299 --> 00:24:42.420
reason Varroa doesn't like the smell of these

00:24:42.420 --> 00:24:45.559
California bees. Okay, how do we get that smell

00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:48.339
and reproduce it and put it in hives all over

00:24:48.339 --> 00:24:51.160
the country? Or is it something else? And that's

00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:53.519
really cool, the thought that that could actually

00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.170
be something leading us in that direction. and

00:24:57.170 --> 00:24:59.529
I know that's jumping way too far ahead for this

00:24:59.529 --> 00:25:02.509
kind of conversation, but as beekeepers who are

00:25:02.509 --> 00:25:05.490
dealing with Varroa every day and can't stand

00:25:05.490 --> 00:25:08.730
it, and a lot of us that don't like to put chemicals

00:25:08.730 --> 00:25:12.170
in our hives if we can help it, but we have to,

00:25:12.470 --> 00:25:16.029
it'd be so cool to find some other way of dealing

00:25:16.029 --> 00:25:20.309
with this, whether it's genetic or a smell or

00:25:20.309 --> 00:25:23.109
whatever the heck it is. i don't know it would

00:25:23.109 --> 00:25:26.569
be unfair of me to ask you to speculate i already

00:25:26.569 --> 00:25:28.509
have but where do you think this is going to

00:25:28.509 --> 00:25:32.430
go from here well that's a good question because

00:25:32.430 --> 00:25:37.009
like that research i was doing it for my phd

00:25:37.009 --> 00:25:41.049
and i remember that for my qualifying exam one

00:25:41.049 --> 00:25:44.490
professor asked me how do you see the varroa

00:25:44.490 --> 00:25:47.809
my problem in five years and i grow like oh i

00:25:47.809 --> 00:25:51.069
will figure it out I will solve that problem

00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:53.750
so in five years I don't think that there will

00:25:53.750 --> 00:25:57.730
be a problem. At the end I ended up with more

00:25:57.730 --> 00:26:00.890
questions than answers so I think that's something

00:26:00.890 --> 00:26:04.490
very beautiful about like research and science

00:26:04.490 --> 00:26:08.089
because we start like from a broader context

00:26:08.089 --> 00:26:11.569
of an observation as Owen was saying but then

00:26:11.569 --> 00:26:15.630
slowly we were kind of like narrowing down, depending

00:26:15.630 --> 00:26:18.109
on the results that we were getting, giving us

00:26:18.109 --> 00:26:21.549
that direction where to follow. So, oh my God,

00:26:21.690 --> 00:26:23.710
sorry, I forgot the question. What was the question?

00:26:23.990 --> 00:26:26.309
Can I hold you to your five -year timeline? You're

00:26:26.309 --> 00:26:28.450
going to have this whole thing solved in five

00:26:28.450 --> 00:26:31.410
years? Yeah. You can go to a B convention at

00:26:31.410 --> 00:26:33.750
that point and people will put you up on their

00:26:33.750 --> 00:26:37.609
shoulders and carry you around. Yeah, but well.

00:26:37.849 --> 00:26:40.349
And Owen will be throwing rose petals in front

00:26:40.349 --> 00:26:42.190
of the whole group. What do you think, Owen?

00:26:42.569 --> 00:26:45.069
Where's this all going? I mean, obviously it

00:26:45.069 --> 00:26:48.309
has really far reaching practical applications.

00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:51.230
If we can really crack the code to like, what

00:26:51.230 --> 00:26:54.829
is this like defense mechanism that these California

00:26:54.829 --> 00:26:57.869
bees are employing? And especially if it can

00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:02.170
be replicated. Varroa is not the only stressor

00:27:02.170 --> 00:27:06.079
that bees are experiencing. But it's like if

00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:09.400
we could remove that from the equation, it would

00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.819
be huge for the industry as a whole, globally.

00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:14.740
Yeah, it's not the only stressor, but it's really

00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:17.099
the biggest one right now. Yeah, there are plenty

00:27:17.099 --> 00:27:20.220
of others and some of the others are there because

00:27:20.220 --> 00:27:23.880
of ROA. A lot of the diseases are passed around

00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:28.059
or the bees are weakened because of it or in

00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:30.779
a place like where I live where in the winter

00:27:30.779 --> 00:27:32.759
there's going to be three feet of snow on the

00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:34.880
ground and we're going to have below zero temperatures.

00:27:35.369 --> 00:27:39.309
If the bees are weakened, whether it is from

00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:42.450
a disease or varroa or something else, that's

00:27:42.450 --> 00:27:44.190
the kind of stressor that means they're not going

00:27:44.190 --> 00:27:46.470
to make it through winter. Okay, on a little

00:27:46.470 --> 00:27:48.769
bit different note here, I've interviewed some

00:27:48.769 --> 00:27:51.329
other beekeepers from Southern California that

00:27:51.329 --> 00:27:54.670
have told me in their opinion all of the bee

00:27:54.670 --> 00:27:58.869
colonies in Southern California have Africanized

00:27:58.869 --> 00:28:02.900
genetics. Okay, they're hotter than bee colonies

00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:05.900
from other places in the country. That's probably

00:28:05.900 --> 00:28:08.859
why they assume that. They're also telling me

00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:12.279
things like, hey, it seems like the hottest colonies

00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:15.599
do the best controlling Varroa. Have you seen

00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:21.660
any kind of link between behavior and this resistance

00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:25.099
that you've seen in your research? Not necessarily

00:28:25.099 --> 00:28:31.740
like directly because we tend to requeen or in

00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:36.019
a certain way to get rid of those very spicy

00:28:36.019 --> 00:28:39.640
and hot colonies because it's a liability to

00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:42.900
have like that in where we keep our colonies

00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:45.960
because there there is like people working on

00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:50.000
citruses, chickens and stuff so we don't want

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.619
to have any incidents of these things and also

00:28:53.619 --> 00:28:58.190
I'm aware that some or mostly the majority of

00:28:58.190 --> 00:29:01.289
beekeepers that keep them in their back jar or

00:29:01.289 --> 00:29:05.950
stuff, they also do like a type of filter. So

00:29:05.950 --> 00:29:09.289
what is really interesting, these colonies give

00:29:09.289 --> 00:29:13.509
a type of hope to kind of like to the problem.

00:29:13.970 --> 00:29:17.009
And we know that there are multiple populations

00:29:17.009 --> 00:29:20.349
around the world that has in a certain way it

00:29:20.349 --> 00:29:24.640
has built either resistance or tolerance towards

00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:28.640
the might. It's interesting how nature in a certain

00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:32.980
way after a while of these two, like the bee

00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:38.299
and the might, by just being together, how nature

00:29:38.299 --> 00:29:43.539
in a way fa - not favorite, but it's kind of

00:29:43.539 --> 00:29:47.519
like it's starting to build that ancestry. It

00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:50.180
sounds like the direction you were going is saying

00:29:50.180 --> 00:29:53.160
that it's very likely that if humans were out

00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.180
of the picture, natural selection in these bees

00:29:56.180 --> 00:29:59.420
would eventually fix this problem anyway. Do

00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:01.940
you think that's the case? In a way, yeah, it's

00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:06.640
kind of like nature has figured out something

00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:10.279
how to deal with the stressor, but at the same

00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:14.859
time, I know that the mind won't stay behind.

00:30:15.150 --> 00:30:18.809
at some point also might figure out that the

00:30:18.809 --> 00:30:22.829
new way of the bees to be resistant and then

00:30:22.829 --> 00:30:26.589
there will be like that fallback. So there is

00:30:26.589 --> 00:30:30.069
this interesting theory in ecology that it's

00:30:30.069 --> 00:30:34.069
called Red Queen. That it's when in this case

00:30:34.069 --> 00:30:37.589
the bee and the mite running after each other

00:30:37.589 --> 00:30:40.970
and they don't don't catch it but it's kind of

00:30:40.970 --> 00:30:45.269
this loop when one upgrade and become more resistant

00:30:45.269 --> 00:30:48.690
than the other one, find ways to overcome that

00:30:48.690 --> 00:30:52.829
and it's like this constant loop. But it's really

00:30:52.829 --> 00:30:57.549
interesting because this, the Californian colonies

00:30:57.549 --> 00:31:01.670
that we have, it's also shaped by nature. It's

00:31:01.670 --> 00:31:04.190
kind of like all these dogs that beekeepers have

00:31:04.190 --> 00:31:08.289
around and the deferral ones that have been here,

00:31:08.369 --> 00:31:10.990
they have been just like breeding among each

00:31:10.990 --> 00:31:14.170
other and then they have like this diversity

00:31:14.170 --> 00:31:17.890
in their ancestry. I do think that diversity

00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:22.170
it's a type of key because give them more tools

00:31:22.170 --> 00:31:25.569
to use in a way. And then it's just an evolutionary

00:31:25.569 --> 00:31:29.490
race of who can evolve faster, the bees or the

00:31:29.490 --> 00:31:33.430
mites. Yeah. Until the next dresser comes along.

00:31:33.670 --> 00:31:36.650
Okay, we're running out of time. There's one

00:31:36.650 --> 00:31:39.109
thing on the show that I give every guest an

00:31:39.109 --> 00:31:42.990
opportunity to talk about for a second. And that

00:31:42.990 --> 00:31:46.210
is the most wild and crazy beekeeping story that

00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:50.289
you've ever had. And that can be anything from

00:31:50.289 --> 00:31:54.309
just really unusual behavior in the bees to something

00:31:54.309 --> 00:31:58.690
embarrassing or painful, you get the idea. And

00:31:58.690 --> 00:32:00.410
I have a feeling, Owen, because you've been doing

00:32:00.410 --> 00:32:02.990
this longer and your hands are in the bees more

00:32:02.990 --> 00:32:08.210
than Genesis's are. Owen, I'm going to give you

00:32:08.210 --> 00:32:10.329
a second. If you can think of one or two, I'd

00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:12.890
love you to share one. I guess my favorite bee

00:32:12.890 --> 00:32:15.569
story that I like to kind of pull out of my back

00:32:15.569 --> 00:32:17.789
pocket and share with people is like, I guess,

00:32:17.809 --> 00:32:20.549
a little bit unique based off where we are. We

00:32:20.549 --> 00:32:24.319
have the March Air Reserve Base over in Moreno

00:32:24.319 --> 00:32:26.440
Valley. So it's just like a quick city away.

00:32:26.819 --> 00:32:29.799
They have some civilian scientists on base that

00:32:29.799 --> 00:32:32.140
are doing natural science work and they reached

00:32:32.140 --> 00:32:37.319
out to me to help facilitate colony removals

00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:39.599
on the base. They didn't want to just be spraying

00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:41.599
a bunch of poison around, which I thought was

00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:43.559
great. I would have really never thought that

00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:44.859
that was something they would have been that

00:32:44.859 --> 00:32:47.559
invested in. Yeah. Well, it's also illegal in

00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:52.099
California. Yeah. Yeah. But I got a call from

00:32:52.099 --> 00:32:55.500
them one pretty early in the day and they were

00:32:55.500 --> 00:32:58.240
like this is super urgent. We know that you're

00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:00.359
really busy doing your research on campus but

00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:03.660
if you could come out today we have a swarm that

00:33:03.660 --> 00:33:07.160
moved into a plane out on like the runway and

00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:09.200
it was slated like it needed to take off for

00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:11.640
some like important training. like a fighter

00:33:11.640 --> 00:33:14.140
jet or something. Yeah. And they already had

00:33:14.140 --> 00:33:15.839
like all of their technician crews out there,

00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:17.920
but they were all too afraid. There was so many

00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:20.619
bees flying around. No one wanted to chance getting

00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:23.859
stung. So I was like, okay, I can clear my schedule.

00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:26.740
I can come out there. And I brought one of the

00:33:26.740 --> 00:33:29.279
grad students with me at the time. And we got

00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:31.380
out there and went through a bunch of security

00:33:31.380 --> 00:33:34.079
and checks to be able to even just get out onto

00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:35.960
the runway. And then they stopped us and they

00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:38.579
were like, okay, well now you need to go and

00:33:38.730 --> 00:33:41.529
pick out from the tread of like the the work

00:33:41.529 --> 00:33:44.190
trucks tires every piece of gravel we have a

00:33:44.190 --> 00:33:46.569
lot of gravel down in the field because if any

00:33:46.569 --> 00:33:48.970
of the gravel gets out onto the tarmac that can

00:33:48.970 --> 00:33:51.529
really mess up and damage the the wheels of the

00:33:51.529 --> 00:33:55.049
planes so we had to spend i was just on my back

00:33:55.049 --> 00:33:57.849
like just digging out all of the gravel that

00:33:57.849 --> 00:34:01.490
had gotten stuck we finally get out there i don't

00:34:01.490 --> 00:34:03.769
think they really knew what constituted a big

00:34:03.769 --> 00:34:08.349
swarm It was, it was very small, like a few hundred

00:34:08.349 --> 00:34:11.769
bees. So it just brushed them off. I sprayed

00:34:11.769 --> 00:34:14.030
a little bit of soapy water around where the

00:34:14.030 --> 00:34:16.429
bees were. I told them, oh, it'll help wash away

00:34:16.429 --> 00:34:18.309
the smell. So they shouldn't come back and trouble

00:34:18.309 --> 00:34:21.070
you at all again. And that was it. It was so,

00:34:21.070 --> 00:34:23.670
so quick and short, but they had built it up.

00:34:23.670 --> 00:34:26.690
Like this was some like major critical issue.

00:34:26.769 --> 00:34:29.010
Like there were thousands and thousands of bees,

00:34:29.030 --> 00:34:32.929
but I was like to show that one. like national

00:34:32.929 --> 00:34:36.210
security is at risk here and you have these men

00:34:36.210 --> 00:34:39.389
that have been through boot camp and been to

00:34:39.389 --> 00:34:42.230
war and all kinds of stuff and come get our bees

00:34:42.230 --> 00:34:45.989
they're scary i love it i love it is there a

00:34:45.989 --> 00:34:48.550
part two to that i mean i've done some really

00:34:48.550 --> 00:34:51.250
fun work over there there was another hive that

00:34:51.250 --> 00:34:53.469
had gotten up into the palm tree i mean i was

00:34:53.469 --> 00:34:56.070
like a serious colony there was a lot of comb

00:34:56.070 --> 00:34:58.429
and they brought out a really nice ladder and

00:34:58.429 --> 00:35:00.750
I had I had to scale all the way up to the top

00:35:00.750 --> 00:35:03.269
and just like cut it down. I made a little pulley

00:35:03.269 --> 00:35:05.769
system with some rope and a bucket so I could

00:35:05.769 --> 00:35:08.550
lower down each section to the ground. I really

00:35:08.550 --> 00:35:11.909
enjoy doing colony removals when I have the time

00:35:11.909 --> 00:35:14.130
to. I don't have that much time at the moment

00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:16.050
anymore just because the research is always going

00:35:16.050 --> 00:35:18.429
to be the priority. But it does feel like a really

00:35:18.429 --> 00:35:22.050
valuable public service I can do. I don't want

00:35:22.050 --> 00:35:24.349
people out and about you know that don't really

00:35:24.349 --> 00:35:26.409
know very much about bees to have a negative

00:35:26.409 --> 00:35:29.409
bee interaction. just because there was a bee

00:35:29.409 --> 00:35:31.989
in a valve box that they happen to run by a lot

00:35:31.989 --> 00:35:34.389
and then they get chased or stung. I mean bees

00:35:34.389 --> 00:35:36.389
are so important and I think they are generally

00:35:36.389 --> 00:35:38.690
quite harmless. There's just usually something

00:35:38.690 --> 00:35:41.289
unfortunately that, you know, can set them off.

00:35:41.309 --> 00:35:43.469
Like maybe someone just ran their lawnmower a

00:35:43.469 --> 00:35:45.889
little too long by where they happen to be or

00:35:45.889 --> 00:35:48.550
just making too much noise or vibration or there

00:35:48.550 --> 00:35:51.389
was some smell or odor that just set them off.

00:35:51.650 --> 00:35:54.389
There's more research for you. Why do bees not

00:35:54.389 --> 00:35:57.659
like internal combustion engines? Alright, last

00:35:57.659 --> 00:36:01.139
thought, 30 seconds Genesis. Why do you love

00:36:01.139 --> 00:36:04.900
honeybees? Why do I love honeybees? Well, I don't

00:36:04.900 --> 00:36:09.780
know. I started working with ants and then I

00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:13.099
switched to honeybees and I just got in love

00:36:13.099 --> 00:36:18.119
with bees. They always teach me so many new things

00:36:18.119 --> 00:36:23.019
and they always surprise me too. I was a TA in

00:36:23.019 --> 00:36:27.329
the bees and beekeeping class. And it's really

00:36:27.329 --> 00:36:31.030
nice and rewarding to see the students when they

00:36:31.030 --> 00:36:33.750
start the class, the perception that they have

00:36:33.750 --> 00:36:38.349
about honeybees and then seeing their perspective

00:36:38.349 --> 00:36:44.090
by the end of the class and see the switch completely.

00:36:44.190 --> 00:36:47.670
Maybe they start the class afraid of them and

00:36:47.670 --> 00:36:52.150
then they leave loving bees, respect them. It's

00:36:52.150 --> 00:36:55.949
kind of like as they lose that. Fear of the bees.

00:36:56.449 --> 00:36:58.889
So I don't know. I feel that's really cool and

00:36:58.889 --> 00:37:01.690
nice. That's great. All right, you two Thank

00:37:01.690 --> 00:37:03.969
you very much for your time and keep up the good

00:37:03.969 --> 00:37:06.530
work and all this research I can't wait to see

00:37:06.530 --> 00:37:10.150
where it goes next and In I'm gonna say less

00:37:10.150 --> 00:37:13.230
than five years Genesis. This whole thing is

00:37:13.230 --> 00:37:17.010
gonna be solved Yeah, well feel free to check

00:37:17.010 --> 00:37:20.980
like the web page of the lab because There is

00:37:20.980 --> 00:37:23.539
people doing really cool stuff, like there is

00:37:23.539 --> 00:37:28.079
Sakshi, she's working with engineers and physics

00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:33.559
to try to figure out a way to quantify defensiveness

00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:38.280
on colonies with sensors. So there's like really

00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:44.539
cool stuff cooking around. Yeah. Thanks again

00:37:44.539 --> 00:37:47.079
for joining us on Be Love, Be Keeping presented

00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:50.380
by Manlike. Another big thank you goes to V2B

00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:53.440
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00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:57.039
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00:37:57.039 --> 00:38:01.239
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00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:03.760
Hey, thanks a lot guys. And if you haven't yet,

00:38:04.019 --> 00:38:06.400
please subscribe to and follow the show, tell

00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:09.099
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00:38:09.099 --> 00:38:12.860
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00:38:12.860 --> 00:38:16.199
have a guest suggestion or topic you'd like discussed

00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:19.500
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00:38:19.500 --> 00:38:22.880
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00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:25.659
the honey or the money, you're in it for the

00:38:25.659 --> 00:38:27.059
love. See you next week.