Abuzz with bee research

Alumni gifts support unique work with honeybees

Entomology professor Marla Spivak

Photo by Tom Foley

by Jodi Auvin

From M, spring 2003

"I went to work for a commercial beekeeper my sophomore year in college," says Marla Spivak, associate professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences since 1993. "I've been in the field ever since."

"Many people are fascinated by bees," she continues. "My current class on honeybees and social insects has attracted students in many fields, from freshmen to doctoral levels. Sociology and psychology students are interested in cooperation and conflict, economists are interested in the costs and benefits of social groups, and artists think the nests are beautiful."

"My current class has attracted students in many fields...sociology students are interested in cooperation and conflict, economists are interested in the costs and benefits of social groups, and artists think the nests are beautiful."

Spivak's research, supported in part by gifts from alumni and other donors, is no less intriguing. She's working on controlling diseases and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which are killing honeybees worldwide in record numbers. Because many plant crops will not bear fruit unless visited by bees, the paucity of honeybee pollinators ultimately affects the cost and availability of food.

Rather than use antibiotics and pesticides, to which mites and diseases develop resistance, Spivak has bred a line of "hygienic" bees as a natural control. Hygienic bees have genes that help them detect and remove diseased and mite-infested brood in the nest, reducing their spread.

Spivak is also working with researchers from horticulture and the Medical School to examine the effects of propolis and other bee products on HIV. She's writing a manual on raising bumblebee colonies and is developing an online course on how honeybees defend themselves against diseases and mites. "It's called The Hives' Angels," she says with a laugh.

Spivak's work, which is unique in the five-state area, is also supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA, as well as by gifts from members of national and regional beekeeping organizations.

Her vision for the future includes a new bee research lab on the campus in St. Paul, part of which would be open to the public. There's no doubt that if and when this dream becomes a reality, it will be a veritable hive of life-enhancing activity.