Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#2> From these data, we concluded that LiCl, not RNA knockdown, mediated the observed activity on Varroa mites and that it would be worthwhile to analyse the potential of LiCl as a varroacide.
Interesting how correlation doesn't mean causation :).
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#3Hopefully this discovery will help solve the colony collapse problem.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#4If this is true in real trials, it is a big thing. Varroa mites have developed resistance to fluvalvinate, which is most commonly used miticide and formic acid is really easy to overdose. Lithium cloride in those quantities is quite safe and low cost. Even more, with short treatment duration (48h at 25mM concentration) one can time the treatment well to reduce LiCl ending up in the honey.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#5This is great news, but I have a few questions that weren't covered in the article:
1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free?
2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees? LiCl can affect the nervous system (although this is an extremely low quantity). I'm just wondering if there is someone who eats a LOT of honey, could they be impacted (similar to those people who reportedly got mercury poisoning from eating too much fish)
I know very little about the biological mechanisms at work here, but those were two thoughts that immediately came to mind.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#6While this is exciting, I can't help but notice-
Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported from feral populations or colonies kept continuously under natural selection pressure
Varroa mites have evolved resistance to all available synthetic acaricides
In other words, this discovery is just another step following the footsteps of other failing herbicidal & insecticidal campaigns. Doing things nature's way is inconvenient, so we develop chemicals. But eventually, resistance is developed, and then we are in an arms race that will never end.
It would be nice to see more attention paid to the well-being of native pollinators, which already take care of themselves in regards to parasites & diseases, but whose numbers have been falling in recent years.
Managed honey bee colonies supplement the work of natural wild pollinators, not the other way around. In a study of 41 different crop systems worldwide, honeybees only increased yield in 14 percent of the crops. Who did all the pollination? Native bees and other insects.
https://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/10/native-bees-are-bett...
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#7While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
>It would be nice to see more attention paid to the well-being of native pollinators, which already take care of themselves in regards to parasites & diseases.
There's a second avenue which is the treatment-free solution practiced by some beekeepers. The idea there is to keep the selection pressure and just out-evolve the parasites. Given that managed bees reproduce much more often than natural populations there's a chance it might work and some encouraging results:
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#8This is great news, but I have a few questions that weren't covered in the article: 1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free? 2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees? LiCl can affect the nervous system (although this is an extremely low quantity).…
1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free?
The paper says that a single feeding achieved good results, though worse than continued feeding spanning a few days. It seems then that a single treatment will only kill mites that are already in the hive, but will not do anything to help develop immunity. Looks like bee keepers will just have to add lithium compounds to the list of treatments they already regularly apply.
2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees?
The paper mentions that it doesn’t accumulate in bees wax, though it says nothing about the honey. They discuss potential toxicity though, and it seems that lithium is not toxic to mammals in concentrations relevant here. Certainly there is no bioaccumulation effect here that makes eating fish somewhat dangerous.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#9This is great news, but I have a few questions that weren't covered in the article: 1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free? 2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees? LiCl can affect the nervous system (although this is an extremely low quantity).…
1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free? The paper says that a single feeding achieved good results, though worse than continued feeding spanning a few days. It seems then that a single treatment will only kill mites that are already in the hive, but will not do anything to help develop immunity. Looks like bee…
Only doing a single feeding seems like a great way to breed resistance in the mites.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#10While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
It would be nice to see more attention paid to the well-being of native pollinators, which already take care of themselves in regards to parasites & diseases, but whose numbers have been falling in recent years.
I imagine that the reason this isn't done is because it's not in the interest of Big Ag's medium-term profits.