Lab news

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  Genetics and distribution of varroa in Madagascar

  16/05/2013 David JOSSEROND

  Since it first appeared in 2010, varroa has become a major problem for beekeepers in Madagascar.

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  Understanding the symbiosis between fungi and orchids

  24/11/2012 Camille Gilles

  A Franco-German team of researchers from the CNRS and the University of Réunion have studied the interaction between orchids and fungi in Réunion. 73 of the 130 orchid species identified on the island were analyzed. They live in symbiosis with certain species of fungi which colonize their roots, helping them to absorb nutrients.

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  Red locusts reveal their colour code

  18/10/2012 Camille Gilles

  From now on, it will be possible to warn of the danger of upcoming locust swarms, basedon the colour of the insects, thanks to a recent CIRAD study of red locusts in Madagascar. The study team succeeded in quantifying the link between locust density and the colour of the different parts of the insects' bodies. These results mean that colour variations can now be used as an early indicator of gregarization.

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• The root of banana black Sigatoka disease

  26/06/2012 Camille Gilles

  Bananablack Sigatoka disease, which has now invaded every continent in the southern hemisphere, originated in Southeast Asia. This has just been confirmed by a team from CIRAD. The researchers involved also showed that in Africa and Latin America, the disease was introduced in two diffrerent ways.

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• Bees disoriented by low-level insecticide doses

  26/06/2012 Camille Gilles

  For the first time, an interdisciplinary French research team has found a link betweenbee population decline and an insecticide caused, not directly by insecticidetoxicity, but by disorientating bees and reducing their ability to return tothe hive. To carry out the study, researchers attached RFID microchips to morethan 650 bees. Foraging bees previously fed sugar water with a very low dose of thiamethoxam in a lab were found to have a significant incidence of failing toreturn to the hive. Thiamethoxam is an insecticide from the neonicotinoidfamily used to protect crops from certain pests, primarily through seedcoating. A simulation based on these results suggests that insecticides mayhave a substantial impact on bee colonies. The results were published in thejournal Science on 29 March 2012.

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