Abc Australia
@abcaustralia·443K subscribers·5K videos
Could artificial insemination save our bees from varroa mite? 🐝💉 #WorldBeeDay | ABC Australia
Posted
May 20, 2019
Views
15,627
Likes
173
Comments
16
Engagement
May 20, 2019
15,627
173
16
1.21%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
2:43Now PlayingHappy World Bee day! A rather delicate artificial insemination procedure may hold the key to saving Australia's future bee populations from their biggest threat — the varroa mite.
As countries around the world scramble to stop bee populations from disappearing, the Australian bee industry is divided on how to best protect bees from the destructive parasite.
But it involves a controversial question that has split the industry: Should Australia be able to breed up varroa-mite tolerant bee colonies while risking bringing another harmful virus into the country?
Ron Clarke is one of just a handful of bee breeders who uses artificial insemination to breed up colonies in Australia.
It's delicate work under microscopic conditions, requiring tiny tools and a lot of patience but Mr Clarke is passionate about creating genetically superior bee colonies.
He is particularly interested in breeding up bees that would be tolerant to varroa mite.
The tiny mite is responsible for the collapse of many bee colonies world-wide but it hasn't arrived in Australia — yet.
Join the ABC Australia community on social media!
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
