Selection and Development of Australian Hygienic Honey Bee Lines,

This project investigated the relationship between honey bees and the most economically significant pathogen affecting the Australia honey bee industry, Ascosphaera apis, the fungus responsible for chalkbrood disease. Genetic variation of A. apis in Australia was described in a global context, as well as the process of selecting and breeding for hygienic behaviour, a social immune response of honey bees known to confer resistance to chalkbrood.