Ten years ago I proposed that large colonies might be more prone to mite infestation and collapse more quickly than moderate sized ones. Researchers dismissed the idea, stating that a large colony was always better at all things than a small one. Ingmar Fries shows the opposite:

> The amounts of adult bees, worker brood and drone brood were significantly lower in the surviving colonies compared with the control colonies. Since mites reproduce in the brood cells with preference for drone brood (Fuchs 1990), the reduced amounts of brood availability, in particular drone brood, in the surviving population consequently limits the reproductive opportuni- ties for the mites. Hence, reduced colony size may be an adaptive characteristic of the surviving colonies to limit the mite population growth rate. In addition, it was clear that the smaller colony size of the surviving population was not a symptom of mite infestation since no statistically significant effects were observed on colony size from the mite infestation rates. Inbred honey bee colonies can also result in reduced colony size and since an inbreeding potential exists in the surviving colonies from Gotland due to their isolation, the level of inbreeding in this population should be investigated.

Characteristics of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) in Sweden surviving Varroa destructor infestation
Barbara LOCKE, Ingemar FRIES
Apidologie (2011) 42:533–542

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