title: Presence of Nosema ceranae associated with honeybee queen introductions.
abstract: Microsporidiosis caused by Nosema species is one of the factors threatening the health of the honeybee (Apis mellifera), which is an essential element in agriculture mainly due to its pollination function. The dispersion of this pathogen may be influenced by many factors, including various aspects of beekeeping management such as introduction of queens with different origin. Herein we study the relation of the presence and distribution of Nosema spp. and the replacement of queens in honeybee populations settled on the Atlantic Canary Islands. While Nosema apis has not been detected, an increase of the presence and distribution of Nosema ceranae during the last decade has been observed in parallel with a higher frequency of foreign queens. On the other hand, a reduction of the number of N. ceranae positive colonies was observed on those islands with continued replacement of queens. We suggest that such replacement could help maintaining low rates of Nosema infection, but healthy queens native to these islands should be used in order to conserve local honeybee diversity.
authors.affiliation: Área de Biología Animal, Dpto. de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Veterinaria, Campus de Excelencia Regional "Campus Mare Nostrum", Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Centro Apícola Regional, Consejería de Agricultura, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, 19180 Marchamalo, Spain.
authors.forename: Almudena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cepero
authors.affiliation: Mountain Research Centre (CIMO), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Campus de Sta. Apolónia, Apartado 1172, 5301-855 Bragança, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Alice
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Centro Apícola Regional, Consejería de Agricultura, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, 19180 Marchamalo, Spain; Instituto de Recursos Humanos para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (INCRECYT), Fundación Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Albacete, Spain.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martín-Hernández
authors.affiliation: Centro Apícola Regional, Consejería de Agricultura, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, 19180 Marchamalo, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higes
authors.affiliation: Área de Biología Animal, Dpto. de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Veterinaria, Campus de Excelencia Regional "Campus Mare Nostrum", Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: pdelarua@um.es.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De la Rúa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D060146:Ecotype; D058865:Introduced Species; D016818:Nosema / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Apis mellifera; Conservation; Nosema spp.; Queen introduction