Dr. Alison McAfee on the Impact of Viral Infections on Queens
About this event
Dr. Alison McAfee
"Something doesn't smell right: Virus infections suppress pheromone production in queens and inhibit egg laying"
We know that much of the damage caused by varroa mites is a consequence of the virus infections they potentiate among workers, but what happens when the queen becomes infected? We surveyed over a hundred queens and found that those reported as "poor quality" by beekeepers had higher levels of some viruses and smaller ovaries than their "healthy" counterparts. Join me on our research rabbit hole, where a series of experiments revealed that queen virus infections disrupt egg laying and pheromone production, which can lead to premature supersedure.
Join us! Thursday, Feb. 26th at 7pm via Zoom
Bio:
Alison grew up homeschooled on East Cracroft Island, a remote location near Knight Inlet on British Columbia's midcoast. She has now been researching honey bees for twelve years, studying everything from hygienic behavior to queen quality to whether western red cedar hive boxes are bad for bees (they aren't). She obtained her PhD in genome science and technology from the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she graduated at the top of her faculty, and went on to become one of 15 global winners of the L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talents award. Alison is now a research associate at UBC and studies queen overwintering strategies, pheromone biology, and drone heat tolerance. As an author, she has published magazine articles in The Conversation and Scientific American and writes regularly for American Bee Journal when she isn't fishing, hunting, hiking, or training horses.
Passcode:
No Passcode Needed
Category
MDBA Zoom Series Presentation
Registration Info
Registration is recommended
Registration cancellations will be accepted
Invalid Quantity