Tetragonula Carbonaria and Disease: Behavioural and Antimicrobial Defences Used by Colonies to Limit Brood Pathogens

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Tetragonula Carbonaria and Disease: Behavioural and Antimicrobial Defences Used by Colonies to Limit Brood Pathogens Tetragonula carbonaria and disease: Behavioural and antimicrobial defences used by colonies to limit brood pathogens Jenny Lee Shanks BHort, BSc (Hons) Submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Submitted to the School of Science and Health University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury Campus July, 2015 Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) i Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, whether in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution ……………………………………………………………………. Jenny Shanks July 2015 ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am extremely indebted to my supervisors, Associate Professor Robert Spooner-Hart, Dr Tony Haigh and Associate Professor Markus Riegler. Their guidance, support and encouragement throughout this entire journey, has provided me with many wonderful and unique opportunities to learn and develop as a person and a researcher. I thank you all for having an open door, lending an ear, and having a stack of tissues handy. I am truly grateful and appreciate Roberts’s time and commitment into my thesis and me. I am privileged I had the opportunity to work alongside someone with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Robert’s passion and enthusiasm has created some lasting memories, and certainly has encouraged me to continue pursuing my own desires. I cannot begin to express my gratitude for the time and patience provided from Tony not only during our statistical meetings, but also from his continual advice about my writing. It certainly has been a learning curve. I would also like to thank Markus for providing me the opportunity to dabble in insect molecular biology. The boundless knowledge from Markus has played an important role in the success of the disease identification. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the UWS Hawkesbury Foundation, for granting me the F.G. Swain Award, which supported key aspects of this project. The School of Science and Health “3 Minute Thesis Competition” award prizes helped fund numerous aspects of my project. I am also grateful for receiving the University of Western Sydney Postgraduate Award and the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment top-up scholarships. I have had the privilege of meeting many people who were willing to share their time, knowledge and skills. I thank Dr Tim Heard (CSIRO, QLD), and Russell Zabel for the supply of stingless bee hives, and especially Tim for his endless stingless bee knowledge. Many of the Australian stingless beekeepers, I thank, for their help, guidance and support of my work, and for happily supplying bees in the name of iii science. Personally, I would like to acknowledge Dr Rute Brito and Dr Flavio de Oliveira Francisco for their friendship and welcoming me to Brazil as I attended the 10th Bee Meeting (Ribeirão Preto). I would also like to extend a thank you to the Australian Entomology Society, for providing me the opportunities to attend the annual conferences and to meet so many wonderful and interesting entomologists. These experiences have truly opened by my eyes to the world of entomology. I would like to extend my sincere gratefulness to Don Brushett (Southern Cross University), for his assistance in the chemical compound identification aspect of my project. I appreciate his time and patience. I am thankful for the technical support provided by UWS staff Jennie Nelson, Linda Westmoreland, Rosemary Freeman and Sumedha Dharmaratne, and also our apiarist Michael Duncan for his assistance and input in the meliponary and apiary aspects. To my other unofficial supervisors, your presence in my university, and PhD life has made a world of difference, I am truly thankful for your support and friendship; Professor Andrew Beattie, Professor Barry McGlasson, Assoc. Professor Paul Holford, Dr Albert Basta, and Dr Paul Milham. Sincere thanks goes to past and present PhD students, I cannot think of getting through a PhD without another great bunch of people; Dr Jocelyn King, Dr Megan Halcroft, Dr Sahar VanDyk, Dr Hang Dao, Namgay Om, Alison Hewitt, and Phuong Sa. The lunch breaks, numerous cake-days, sharing the tears and triumphs over our projects; I will always cherish the laughter and our friendship. Dr Duong Nguyen, Dr Jennifer Morrow, Dr Shannon Smith, Aidan Hall, Andrew Gherlenda, Tim Sutton and Peter Kern, thanks for the experiences. Finally, I cannot finish without thanking the loved ones in my life for their patience, support, and encouragement. To my parents Stephan and Kerry, and my sister Lee, thank you for your love and support throughout this entire adventure, and for allowing the ever-growing number of “girls” in the backyard, we all have developed a soft spot for them. A special mention to the four-legged family members; thanks for being the ears without the voice, the warm tissue, and the much-needed distraction. To my other dear family and friends, thank you for your continual support of the “bee girl”. What a journey. We made it. iv Preface I have presented this thesis as a series of four experimental chapters in a traditional dissertation format. This thesis includes an introductory chapter, including literature review and aims and scope sections (Chapter 1). The thesis finishes with a concluding chapter (Chapter 6) that discusses key findings, their significance and applications, and outlines prospects for future research. The study was conceptualised by myself and the supervisory panel, Assoc. Prof Robert Spooner- Hart (Principal), Dr Tony Haigh, and Assoc. Prof Markus Riegler. The supervisory panel and I discussed and decided the aims, hypotheses, and experimental design of the chapters. I have undertaken the experimental work; analysed the data; and written the chapters, with input and feedback by the supervisory panel, and external persons where acknowledged in text. The structure of this thesis is given below. Any supplementary tables and figures of each chapter were presented in Appendices, as detailed below: Chapter 1: Introductory chapter Chapter 2: Hive management and investigations into nest thermoregulation. Supplementary video is provided in Appendix 1 Chapter 3: Hygienic behaviour expression in Tetragonula carbonaria. Supplementary videos, tables, and figures are provided in Appendix 2 Chapter 4: Suppression of insect pathogens by the antimicrobial activity of stingless bee nest products. Supplementary tables and figures are provided in Appendix 3 Chapter 5: First documented brood pathogen in a stingless bee species, Tetragonula carbonaria. Supplementary tables and figures are provided in Appendix 4 Chapter 6: Thesis Discussion v Table of Contents Statement of authentication ……………………………………………… ii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………….. iii Preface ………………………………………………………………….….. v Table of Contents …………………………………………………………. vi List of Tables ……………………………………………………………… x List of Figures ………………………………………………………….….. xi List of Videos ………...……………………………………………………. xv List of Appendices ………………………………………………………… xvi List of Tables in Appendices ……………………………………………... xvi List of Figures in Appendices ………………………………………….…. xvii Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………... xix Glossary …………………………………………………………………… xx Species referred to in this thesis …………………………………………. xxii Thesis Summary …………………………………………………………... xxiv Manuscripts prepared for submission …………………………………... xxviii Chapter 1 Literature review, scope and aims of thesis 1 1.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………….… 2 1.2 European honey bee compared to stingless bees ………………………. 3 1.2.1 Historical perspective ……………………………………………… 3 1.2.2 Nest architecture …………………………………………………... 4 1.2.3 Biology and social life …………………………………………..… 7 1.3 Apis mellifera pests and pathogens …………………………………..… 9 1.3.1 Paenibacillus larvae – American foulbrood ………………………. 10 1.3.2 Ascosphaera apis – Chalkbrood …………………………………... 12 1.4 Stingless bee pest and pathogens ………………………………………. 13 1.5 Mechanisms for suppression of brood pathogens in eusocial bees ….… 15 1.5.1 Colony behaviours ………………………………………………… 15 1.5.2 Nest products and their antimicrobial activities …………………… 20 1.5.3 Role of microbial symbionts in the digestive system ……………... 23 1.6 Research scope and aims ………………………………………….…… 24 vi Chapter 2 Hive management and investigations of nest thermoregulation 27 2.1 Abstract 28 2.2 Management of T. carbonaria hives …………………………………… 28 2.2.1 Bee shed set-up ……………………………………………………. 28 2.2.2 Field set-up ………………………………………………………… 31 2.2.3 Hive supplementary feeding ………………………………………. 32 2.2.4 Colony propagation ……………………………………………….. 33 2.3 Nest temperature and thermoregulation activity within T. carbonaria colonies ………………………………………………………………... 34 2.3.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………….. 34 2.3.2 Methods and materials ………………………………………….…. 37 2.3.3 Results ……………………………………………………………... 38 2.3.4 Discussion …………………………………………………………. 51 Chapter 3 Hygienic behaviour in Tetragonula carbonaria 56 3.1 Abstract ………………………………………………………………… 57 3.2 Introduction ……………………………………………………………. 57 3.3 Materials and methods …………………………………………………. 62 3.3.1Observing normal behaviour …………………………………….… 62 3.3.2 Development of methodology for assessment of hygienic behaviour ……………………………………………………………… 63 3.3.3 General hygienic behaviour ……………………………………..… 67 3.4 Results ………………………………………………….………………
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