THE BEE BOX
34
Almond Facts
MARCH | APRIL 2016
loads. Finally, there are studies that show that diverse
pollen sources can improve immune function in bees
and thus potentially mitigate the impact of viruses. It’s
painstaking work that Dr. Flenniken and her lab perform
in Montana. Dr. Flenniken explains, “bee colonies
harbor many potential pathogens, and knowing which
pathogen or combination of pathogens kills a colony
requires analysis of several samples collected from the
same colonies at several points in time.”
2016 marks the first decade of PAm’s funding for honey
bee research, and we are proud to say we’ve funded
over $4 million in research and programs to enhance
the health of honey bees to improve crop pollination.
Funding pest and disease prevention and control is a
key area of focus. In fact, PAm spends a great deal of
resources on Varroa and virus research. We’ve funded
researchers and projects in the United States and around
the world to study virus detection and diagnostics, virus
control measures, virus interactions, and we’ve even
funded research (with Dr. Flenniken) that discovered an
entirely new and widespread family of viruses, the Lake
Sinai Viruses.
There is still more work to do, but we are closer to
understanding Varroa, viruses, pathogens and their
interactions. Of course, we’d like to eliminate the Varroa
mite. But meanwhile, working to control the pest and
preventing the viruses they vector will continue to be a
top honey bee research priority.
Since most commercial colonies in the U.S.
travel to pollinate California almonds, does
the future hold some type of inoculation
program before, during or after almond
pollination for these colonies?
