Table 1.
Scoring criteria used to evaluate honey bee pathologies in the abdominal region corresponding to the images in Figs 1–8.
Fig 1.
Normal and abnormal observed tissues in whole body of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.1) Black Tissue in body; 1.2 White Nodules.
Fig 2.
Normal and abnormal observed tissues in midguts of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.3 Ventriculus Coloration; 1.4 Ventriculus Size.
Fig 3.
Normal and abnormal observed tissues in the pylorus and Malpighian tubules of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.5 Pyloric Scarring; 1.6 Malpighian Tubule Coloring. Red arrows = phyloric scarring.
Fig 4.
Normal and abnormal observed Malpighian tubules of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.7 Malpighian Tubule Quantity; 1.8 Malpighian Tubule Iridescence. Red arrow = Malpighian tubules. Black arrows = concretions and iridescent spots on Malpighian tubules.
Fig 5.
Normal and abnormal observed rectums of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.9 Rectum Color; 1.10 Rectum Size.
Fig 6.
Normal and abnormal observed fecal contents of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.11 Rectum Consistency; 1.12 Rectal Enteroliths “Stones”.
Fig 7.
Normal and abnormal observed tissues in the venom sac and sting glands of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.13 Venom Sac Color; 1.14 Sting Gland Color.
Fig 8.
Normal and abnormal observed tissues in the sting glands of healthy bees and bees taken from CCD colonies.
Location of the tissues and symptoms are described in the methods. These symptoms were used to the standardized scoring listed in Table 1. 1.15 Sting Gland Swelling; 1.16 Sting Gland Melanosis.
Table 2.
Frequency of symptoms in bees collected from CCD versus non-CCD apiaries, as colonies may already be in decline from CCD without visibly recognizable symptoms.
Results shown as the percent of individual bees with each score (prevalence). Test results are either from likelihood ratio tests or, if marked with “§”, chi-squared tests.
“*” indicates statistical significance at α = 0.05.
Fig 9.
Classification tree of the factors distinguishing apiaries with CCD symptoms (n = 531) from control apiaries without any CCD symptomatic colonies (n = 180).
Boxes shaded in gray indicate a terminal node, where the decision tree ends. This classification tree had a specificity of 81.1% (95% CI: 74.6–86.5) (i.e., the ability to correctly identify non-CCD apiaries) and a sensitivity of 70.8% (95% CI: 66.7–74.6) (i.e., the ability to correctly identify CCD apiaries).
Table 3.
Frequency of symptoms in bees collected from CCD symptomatic verses non-CCD colonies, shown as the percent of individual bees with each score (prevalence).
Test results are either from likelihood ratio tests or, if marked with “§”, chi-squared tests.
“*” indicates statistical significance at α = 0.05.
Fig 10.
Relative frequency of four physio-pathological traits that varied among age cohorts.
A) White Nodules (Black = presence, White = absence), B) Pyloric scarring (Black = presence, White = absence), C) Malpighian Tubule Color (Black = severe discoloration, Gray = slight discoloration, White = no discoloration), D) Malpighian tubule number (Black = reduced number, White = normal number). Significant differences among cohorts for each trait is indicated by different letters (alpha = 0.05, Tukey HSD).
Fig 11.
Relative frequency of pathologies associated with the sting gland that varied among age cohorts.
A) Sting gland swelling (Black = presence, White = absence), B) Sting gland tissue melanosis (Black = presence, White = absence), C) Sting gland color (Black = presence, White = absence). Significant differences (α = 0.05, Tukey HSD) indicated by different letters.
Fig 12.
Classification tree of the factors distinguishing bee age for foragers (n = 600) from in-hive bees (n = 650 with newly-emerged and nurses pooled together).
Boxes shaded in gray indicate a terminal node, where the decision tree ends.