Hamish McMillan bee gene's tests won him the best of fair award at the Otago Science and Technology Fair. Photo by Craig Baxter.

It was his father David's work in honey production that prompted the study looking at the complementary sex determiner, or CSD, in bees.

Hamish (17), a year 13 pupil at John McGlashan College, said as varroa was moving throughout New Zealand, including Otago, he wondered what would be lost if the feral or wild populations of bees were wiped out.

Testing both feral and managed populations, he found the majority of genes to be individual to each type of bee.

"As varroa moves through, it will kill off the feral hives and we'll lose that diversity."

The effect would be lower hive population numbers as hives became more vulnerable to disease and varroa.

"It will weaken the hives and lower the honey production."

He was looking at medical research as a career and planned to attend the University of Otago next year.

A total of 285 exhibits from 25 schools in Dunedin and Otago were submitted to the fair.

-rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz

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Bee gene study top project

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