Data from: Covert deformed wing virus infections have long-term deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival

Several studies have suggested that covert stressors can contribute to bee colony declines. Here we provide a novel case study and show using radiofrequency identification tracking technology that covert deformed wing virus (DWV) infections in adult honeybee workers seriously impact long-term foraging and survival under natural foraging conditions. In particular, our experiments show that adult workers injected with low doses of DWV experienced increased mortality rates, that DWV caused workers to start foraging at a premature age, and that the virus reduced the workers' total activity span as foragers. Altogether, these results demonstrate that covert DWV infections have strongly deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival. These results are consistent with previous studies that suggested DWV to be an important contributor to the ongoing bee declines in Europe and the USA. Overall, our study underlines the strong impact that covert pathogen infections can have on individual and group-level performance in bees.多项研究表明，隐性胁迫因子可促成蜂群种群衰退。本研究开展了一项全新的案例研究，并借助射频识别（Radio Frequency Identification, RFID）追踪技术证实：成年工蜂体内的潜伏性变形翅病毒（Deformed Wing Virus, DWV）感染，会在自然觅食环境下对其长期觅食行为与存活能力造成严重负面影响。具体而言，本实验结果显示：注射低剂量DWV的成年工蜂死亡率显著上升；DWV会促使工蜂提前开启觅食行为；同时该病毒会缩短工蜂作为觅食蜂的总活动时长。综上，本研究结果证实，潜伏性DWV感染会对蜜蜂的觅食行为与存活能力产生极强的负面影响。本研究结果与此前多项研究结论相符，后者指出DWV是当前欧美地区蜂群持续衰退的重要诱因之一。总体而言，本研究凸显了潜伏性病原体感染对蜜蜂个体及群体层面行为表现的显著影响。