Sorry, Folks.  I meant the message about the Cota St. swarm in Santa
Barbara to go only to Paul Cronshaw.  I thought I was replying to another
message he had sent me personally.
 
   How about a message now that might interest the entire network (and
those on the Social Insect network)?
 
**************
 
   All of you might be interested in the fact that we have had a high
incidence of swarming in our region, even in areas where we know of no one
keeping bees and in a year of low rainfall.  Also, I have spoken with some
beekeepers in our region, who have reported an abnormally high incidence of
swarming in their managed colonies.
 
   In the above connection, consider the following circumstances:
 
1)  Quite a few scientists are now trying to find a feral colony somewhere
that might have a special hygienic or other characteristic that might
permit them to survive the varroa infestation.
 
2)  If one finds such a colony, it would be only the beginning of a long,
arduous experimental procedure to mate and select queens to find out what
trait might be responsible for that resistance.
 
3)  Unfortunately, our European bees have become highly mongrelized by the
indiscriminate transportation of bees all over the world.  Each colony thus
has a great number of uncertain characteristics, maybe only one of which
might help fend off varroa.
 
*******
 
   Let us instead consider an entire group of feral and commercial honey
bee colonies infested with varroa mites in a given region (one must
consider all such colonies as part of complex, due to robbing and in-air
mating).  Without a carefully scheduled application of Apistan, formic
acid, or other treatment, which colonies might survive?
 
   HYPOTHESIS:  I believe that we can expect that those colonies with a
high propensity to swarm will be the ones most likely to survive varroa
infestation --- according to the following rationale:
 
1)  The swarming event breaks the mite reproduction process, permitting
both parent and offspring colonies to begin a new lease on life.
 
2)  The healthiest drones that circulate about in the drone aggregation
areas will be those from colonies naturally selected for a high propensity
to swarm.
 
3)  Those drones will be the healthiest and will be the most likely to mate
with queens on their mating flights.
 
4)  The end result will be an ever-increasing propensity for frequent
swarming, just as occurs in the Africanized bee colonies.
 
********
 
   Implications for beekeeping:
 
1)  One can expect swarming rates to increase.
 
2)  A new protocol for beekeepers to follow might be for rather frequent
colony division (artificial swarming) as part of their management program,
with later uniting of colonies once the mite reproduction cycle has been
broken.
 
   I will need to think a little more about this last point.
 
 
Adrian
 
 
Adrian M. Wenner                         (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office)
Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology           (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara           (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106