>
> > In this case, surely they are not 'dinks' but those rare colonies that
> managed to shrug off a devastating problem, and so might have the special
> genetics


Interesting point, Gavin.  Last year, during the height of CCD, I spoke with
several almond pollinators who left yards of dinks behind (including
myself).  We were often surprised when we returned to those yards later in
spring, that the colonies had *miraculously* recovered (no I'm not talking
about faith type miracles).

I closely observed two colonies that were struggling with sacbrood or
sacbrood-like symptoms completely (visually) eliminate the problem, and then
go on to rebound.

None of us were trying to save dinks--we were just leaving what we thought
were going to be deadouts behind.  The general consensus was that a good
spring pollen flow allowed the colonies to recover.

Whether these colonies had special genetics, I don't know.  Looks more like
a recovery from nutritional stress, or an activation of the antiviral immune
response.  I've got more questions than answers!

Randy Oliver

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