ABJ Extra - Defensive bee study

[Ray]

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5fd2b1aa990e63193af2a573d&id=4846640e06&e=a26eca7b18

Wimps or Warriors? Honey Bee
Larvae Absorb the Social Culture of
the Hive, Study Finds

Interesting and short!

[tecumseh]

a snip from the article..
The aggressive honey bees also had more robust immune responses than their gentler counterparts, the team found.

"We challenged them with pesticides and found that the aggressive bees were more resistant to pesticide," Grozinger said. "That's surprising considering what we know from vertebrates, where stress in early life leads to a diminishment of resilience. With the bees, we saw an increase in resilience."

[Lburou]

Very interesting report.  I'd like to read an actual article though.

As to the 10-15% variation in aggressiveness, I'd expect that much variation within a hive because of polyandry.  For such a finding to be valid in my view, the queens involved must have been inseminated with the sperm of only one drone (the same drone for all queens in the study -not practical I'm sure).  Otherwise, it does not make sense to me to generalize these observations to all apis mellifera.  JMO  :-)

It's raining cats and dogs tonight tec, especially down your way, I have an extra life preserver if you need it.  ;-)

[Ray]

  I think it may explain why some mild hives get defensive and seem to stay that way.

[apisbees]

Here is a link to the scientific report.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15572