justinbeck's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

We here at TakePart have been greatly concerned with the serious threat that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) poses to honey bees, so I’m very excited to share the good news that scientists may have found a way to help bees fight back against the somewhat mysterious disorder that is wiping out hives worldwide.

The parasitic Varroa mite is considered to be a major contributing factor to CCD, and so scientists from the Agricultural Research Service have bred bees that exhibit a strong expression of a genetic trait common to honey bees, which allows them to remove mite infested bee broods that would otherwise be destroyed.

Bees with a heightened expression of the trait, known as Varroa-sensitive hygine (VSH), are more aggressive in their pursuit of the mites.  According to Science Daily:

The bees gang up, chew and cut through the cap, lift out the infected brood and their mites, and discard them from the broodnest.

The studies showed that even hybrid colonies that contain half the VSH genes, compared to the ones bred with specifically high levels of VSH, there was still a strong resistance to Varroa mite infestation.

While we still don’t know exactly what is causing CCD, and other techniques will have to be developed depending on specific situations, it’s encouraging to know that beekeepers now have one more tool at their disposal to protect their hives. 

It’s important to keep in mind that many small-scale beekeepers have reported no incidents of Colony Collapse Disorder, and without the stresses and travel of large-scale operations, they’re able to sustain a healthy bee population.