ML139313
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Mark Feldlaufer. Timecode In: 00:07:27. Timecode out: 00:29:40. Notes: Honeybees; Parasitic mites. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Decoded MS stereo. NPR/NGS RADIO EXPEDITIONS Bees Tour of Lab with Mark Feldlaufer DAT #9 November 13,1996 MF = Mark Feldlaufer AC = Alex Chadwick 5:17 ambi 6:10 MF -this is the bee research lab in Beltsville. ambi -walking into lab 6:22 MF -I'll take you upstairs to the lab where most of the work occurs, at least the part that i am responsible for ...walking up stairs 6:53 this is one of my labs. as you can see it looks like it-has been set up like a chemistry lab, this is what they look like...MORE ... the observation colony which goes out the window of the lab... 7:31 MF -my name is Mark Feldlaufer. I am a research scientist with the Agricultural Research Service. I have been here for 14 yrs most of that time in a different lab. and currently i am working on some of the problems facing the bee industry. 7:49 -I am working on primarily 3 diff. projects. One is a bacterial disease of bees, know as foul brood caused by 1 or 2 bacteria; i am working on a pest of bees known as the wax moth -it is a pest of stored comb. What the bees normally breed in, lay their eggs in, deposit the honey in. When it is not being used it is attacked by this bee and destroyed. So it is considered a pest of bee products. ANd the 3rd and probably most important thing we are working on in this laboratory is parasitic mites of honey bees. They have received a lot of press in the last year or so. They are basically 2 parasitic mites we are looking at. One in Varroa jacobsoni, which is a large external parasite of the bee, and the other is a much smaller microscopic mite called the tracheal mite because it lives in the trachea or respiratory tubes of the bee. so currently i m looking at those three different products, and our emphasis to this day has been on control. there is a lot of biology that is necessary to be done, but for the time being the parasitic mite has become a problem, especially varroa where it has become impossible to maintain honey bee colonies w/o some kind of chemical treatment to control infestation. 9:16 9:17 AC -Well, what kinds of chemicals can you use to control these things. Do you have good agents for it? 9:24 MF -Right now there is one kind of chemical registered in the US for the control varroa, the varroa mite. This is fluvalinate which is marketed under the trade name of Apistan. And it is applied as a pesticide, impregnated strip in the hive. There is one other chemical that is registered for use with tracheal mites which is menthol. And the results with menthol have not been good. It appears that the efficacy of the compound in temperature dependent as long as the temp is warm enough, and can't give you an exact degree either in cent or faren. it seems that in colder climates when the compound is not vaporized you do not get good control. going back to the varroa mite Apistan has proved effective, but there are reports coming out of Europe, most notably Italy and France that varroa is showing some resistance with Apistan. We are currently looking at a new formulation of formic acid. Formic acid is used in other countries, Canada and other parts of Europe, to control the varroa mite, and tracheal mite. It is not registered w/EPA as we speak, but my understanding is that the paper work is there and it is being processed. One of the problems with formic acid is that it is used as an acid, 65%. Its supply from the produce is either 90 or 95%, so there is some danger in just the dilution of the 90 to 95% just to the 65%. While not as dangerous you could argue as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid it is still caustic and there are liability problems we have developed a gel formulation of formic acid which we feel is safer and more eff... (Notes truncated)
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- 7 May 2005 - Ben Brotman
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- 7 May 2005 - Ben Brotman
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- 7 May 2005 - Ben Brotman