Tracking Varroa Parasitism Using Handheld Infrared Cameras: Is Eusocial Fever the Key?
Tamás Sipos,
Szilvia Orsi-Gibicsár,
Tamás Schieszl,
Tamás Donkó,
Zsombor Zakk,
Sándor Farkas,
Antal Binder,
Sándor Keszthelyi
Affiliations
Tamás Sipos
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agronomy, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, S. Guba Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Szilvia Orsi-Gibicsár
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agronomy, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, S. Guba Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Tamás Schieszl
Department of Physiology and Animal Health, Institute of Physiology and Nutrition, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Guba Sándor Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Tamás Donkó
Medicopus Nonprofit Ltd., Guba Sándor Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Zsombor Zakk
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agronomy, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, S. Guba Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Sándor Farkas
Department of Nature Conservation Biology, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Guba Sándor Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Antal Binder
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agronomy, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, S. Guba Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Sándor Keszthelyi
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agronomy, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, S. Guba Str. 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
The Varroa destructor is the most significant bee parasite and the greatest threat to bee health all around the world. Due to its hidden lifestyle, detection within the brood cell is only possible through invasive techniques. Enhancing detection methods is essential for advancing research on population dynamics, spread, selection efforts, and control methodologies against the mite. In our study, we employed infrared imaging to measure the thermal differences in parasite and intact Apis mellifera worker broods. Experiments were conducted over two years at the MATE Kaposvár Campus in Hungary involving five beehives in 2022 and five beehives in 2023. A FLIR E5-XT WIFI handheld infrared camera was used to create a heat map of capped brood frames. Our results indicate that the resolution of these cameras is sufficient to provide detailed IR images of a bee colony, making them suitable to detect temperature differences in intact and Varroa parasitized capped brood cells. Mite parasitism causes a time-dependent and sustained temperature increase in developing bee pupae, observable regardless of mite number. Our work demonstrates two different heating patterns: hotspot heating and heating cells that are responsible for the elevated temperature of the Varroa-infested cells as a social fever response by the worker bees. Based on our results, future research combined with AI-based image evaluation software could offer beekeepers and researchers practical and valuable tools for high-throughput, non-invasive Varroa detection in the field.
