AstudymadebyMiaDavidssonin1992attheSwedishUniversityofAgriculturalSciencesasanexaminationpaper.
Whenthemitecanonlyreproduceinsealedbroodcells,thereisahyphotesisthatwecanreducethenumberofmiteswithashortercappingstage.Whensmallerbees,(ApisceranaandApismelliferacapensis),aremoreresistanttothemite,thisresearchaimtofindoutifitispossibletogetshortercappingstagewithsmallercellsinEuropeanbeecolonies.
Threedifferentfoundationswereused,640,770,and900cells/sq.dm.ThefoundationswereintroducedinthreedifferentcoloniesattheUniversity,andthepostcappingstageandtheweightofthebeeswerecompared.
AtGotland,theplaceinSwedenwithmostinfestedcolonies,thefoundationswereintroducedintofivecoloniesusingthetrappingcombmethod.ThencellswereopenedandinspectedforVarroamitesineachcomb.Theoffspringofthemothermitesweredividedindifferentgroupsandcomparedbetweenthedifferentcellsizes.
ThedistributionbetweenreproducingandnonreproducingfemaleVarroamitesinthedifferenttypesofwax
Thedistributionofdifferenttypesofoffspring.
Distrubutionofoffspring | 640cells/sq.dm | 770cells/sq.dm | 900cells/sq.dm | Total |
Bothfemaleandmale | 73 | 89 | 85 | 247 |
Onlyfemale | 27 | 11 | 32 | 70 |
Onlymale | 10 | 17 | 17 | 44 |
Onlyprotonymph | 22 | 23 | 8 | 53 |
Nooffspring | 18 | 10 | 8 | 36 |
Total | 150 | 150 | 150湖北天马养蜂场，加我们的微信一起学养蜂。 | 450 |
Nodifferencecouldbefoundinpostcappingstagesbetweenthecellsizes.Therewasatendencytosmallerbeesinsmallercells.Comparisionofthereproductionofthemitesindifferentcellsizesshowednosignificantdifferencesifthematerialwasdividedintotwogroups,fertileandnonfertilemothermites.Thereweresignificantdiffrerencesbetweencellsizesinoffspringcompositionbuttheresultdonotindicatethatthereproductionofmiteswassubstantiallyinfluencedbycellsizeonworkerbeebrood.