Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The meeting started promptly at 5:30 pm and ended at 6:49 pm. Brief presentations were made from state representatives regarding the research and outreach that was conducted over the past year. The following is a brief synopsis of the individual reports. Dr. John Skinner served as secretary and recorded these minutes.

MA: 1) Focus on native pollinator health. May have evidence for pathogen overflow from honey bees to native pollinators. 2) Assessing factors that determine abundance and diversity of native bees in cranberry landscapes. 3) Assessing pathogen diversity and loads in honey bees that have been exposed to sub-lethal levels of imidacloprid in blueberry flowers. ME: 1) Investigating the effects of sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid and acetamiprid on bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) and honey bees. Bumble bee brood rearing is set back initially with exposure to high levels of imidacloprid (applications made during bloom), but by the end of the summer bumble bee colonies that were exposed to imidacloprid residues caught up in population size to those colonies that were not exposed. Exposure of honey bees to sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid and acetamiprid, separately, did not exhibit any long lasting effects going into the winter and there were no differences in overwintering survival of the two treatment groups. CN: Pollen trapping for analysis of pesticide levels in honey bee exposure levels are on going throughout the state. MN: 1) Focus of the properties of propolis in regards to its bioactivity against pathogens. 2) Development of honey bee cell culture is progressing well and virus can be grown in culture now for experimentation. 3) Investigating landscape effects on honey bee nutrition and productivity of colonies. 4) Working with queen breeders to develop high quality queens. SC: 1) Continue development of small hive beetle trap. 2) Finish small hive beetle IPM guide. PA: 1) Distribution and abundance of viruses in different castes and age classes of honey bees, 2) Relationship between small hive beetle and yeasts in the hive. 3) Impact of viruses on honey bee survival. 4) Pathogen prevalence in Africa. 5) Interactions of viruses with other pests. 5) survey of CCD throughout the U.S. 6) Effects of inert pesticide ingredients on honey bee survival and health. 7) Interactions between fungicides and viruses. 8) Viability of viruses found in pollen. KY: 1) Focus on Nosema ceranae. Development of stains to evaluate viability of spores, investigation of north  south gradients of N. ceranae, and the use and effectiveness of Fumidil for control of N. ceranae. GA: 1) Focus on colony density and varroa infestation levels. 2) Effect of bee pathogens on efficacy of pollination. NC: 1) Determine factors that drive mating choice and polyandry. 2) Identify collective behaviors involved in supercedure. 3) Pollination ecology of highbush blueberry. USDA/TX: 1) Focus is on Nosema spp. infections and bee survival. 2) Chalkbroos reproduction. 3) Effects of Varroa on bee immune system. 4) Biology of small hive beetle. MI: 1) Focus on Nosema spp., effect of pollen nutrition and Nosema infection and consequences of mixed N. ceranae and N. apis infections. 2) Pesticide effects on learning. OR: 1) Focus on pollen nutrition and flight, colony growth, and bee physiology. 2) Efficacy of brood pheromone for pollination of non-preferred flowers. WA: 1) Focus on germ plasm, genetic diversity, and breeding. 2) Development of ELISA test for Nosema spp. 3) Continue to manage diagnostic lab for Nosema and mites. IN: 1) Development of QTL mapping for future brreding for resistance to Varroa and IAPV. 2) Map traits for grooming. 3) Assessed degree of colony loss in 2010 when bees exposed to clothianidin. NE: 1) Floral plantings and native bee diversity. 2) Sub-lethal effects of pesticides on queen fertility. 3) Use of micro-arrays to assess sub-lethal effects of pesticides CA: 1) Exposure of honey bees to pesticides in nectar and pollen in citrus. 2) Bee dance language investigations and swarm decision making. Discussions followed the state reports about the format for the next annual meeting in 2012 and the nature of a cooperative project proposed by Dr. David Tarpy (NC). Dr. Drummond solicited ideas from the group about possible alternatives for the next annual meeting format. He suggested two potential formats and asked the group to think about other possibilities. The formats proposed were: 1) each NC1173 member to bring a single graph that represents a significant aspect of bee health as a talking point. It was suggested that this manner of presentation might stimulate more discussion among members; and 2) that a group of members be given the task to summarize the state a single topic characterizing bee health so that an in-depth discussion would pursue along this single topic and allow all members to fully appreciate where research has been focused and where research is currently lacking. Dr. Tarpy proposed that a matrix be developed that depicts the fields of investigation that each member is pursuing and where cooperative joint efforts are underway. He agreed to take the lead on initiating this project.

NC1173 Grants and Publications attached.