Honey bee colony health and productivity is intrinsically linked to the quality of the queen. Unfortunately, queen quality is compromised by stressors such as extreme temperatures and pesticide exposure. When queens are heat- and cold-shocked, the viability of their stored sperm drastically decreases, causing colonies to dwindle, produce less honey, and ultimately fail. Pesticide exposure […]

Over the past eight years we have a diagnostic test for disease resistance in honey bees and then attempted to use this test to selectively breed disease-resistant bees. The bees selected in this way appear to not lose other economically important traits (e.g., honey production) but are far better equipped to deal with disease than […]

Over the past six and a half years we have developed a way to measure disease resistance in honey bees using a molecular diagnostic approach, similar to the tests done every day in hospital laboratories. We have then used this method to selectively breed bees that are, indeed, more resistant to disease. This is akin […]