A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies
Inter-colony disease transfer poses a serious hurdle to successfully managing healthy honeybee colonies. In this study, we build a multi-scale model of two interacting honey bee colonies. The model considers the effects of forager and drone drift, guarding behaviour, and resource robbing of dying co...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Insects |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/8/700 |
| _version_ | 1797523411135627264 |
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| author | Matthew Betti Karalyne Shaw |
| author_facet | Matthew Betti Karalyne Shaw |
| author_sort | Matthew Betti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Inter-colony disease transfer poses a serious hurdle to successfully managing healthy honeybee colonies. In this study, we build a multi-scale model of two interacting honey bee colonies. The model considers the effects of forager and drone drift, guarding behaviour, and resource robbing of dying colonies on the spread of disease between colonies. Our results show that when drifting is high, disease can spread rapidly between colonies, that guarding behaviour needs to be particularly efficient to be effective, and that for dense apiaries drifting is of greater concern than robbing. We show that while disease can put an individual colony at greater risk, drifting can help less the burden of disease in a colony. We posit some evolutionary questions that come from this study that can be addressed with this model. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:42:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0b3f9523c007439cbbbe6d80d54bb528 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:42:34Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Insects |
| spelling | doaj.art-0b3f9523c007439cbbbe6d80d54bb5282023-11-22T08:07:16ZengMDPI AGInsects2075-44502021-08-0112870010.3390/insects12080700A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee ColoniesMatthew Betti0Karalyne Shaw1Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB E4L 1E2, CanadaSaint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, CanadaInter-colony disease transfer poses a serious hurdle to successfully managing healthy honeybee colonies. In this study, we build a multi-scale model of two interacting honey bee colonies. The model considers the effects of forager and drone drift, guarding behaviour, and resource robbing of dying colonies on the spread of disease between colonies. Our results show that when drifting is high, disease can spread rapidly between colonies, that guarding behaviour needs to be particularly efficient to be effective, and that for dense apiaries drifting is of greater concern than robbing. We show that while disease can put an individual colony at greater risk, drifting can help less the burden of disease in a colony. We posit some evolutionary questions that come from this study that can be addressed with this model.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/8/700honey beedisease transferdriftrobbing |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Betti Karalyne Shaw A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies Insects honey bee disease transfer drift robbing |
| title | A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies |
| title_full | A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies |
| title_fullStr | A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies |
| title_short | A Multi-Scale Model of Disease Transfer in Honey Bee Colonies |
| title_sort | multi scale model of disease transfer in honey bee colonies |
| topic | honey bee disease transfer drift robbing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/8/700 |
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