What I don't understand is the full effect of distance between hives.
Frey's 2011 study suggests that invasion takes place equally to hives up to
1 mile distant.

On the other hand, Seeley's study suggests that hive separation of only
100-250 feet made a large difference.

Other work seems to show that colony density is an important factor. But the work by Tom raises a new and interesting question. Do bees in apiaries share information somehow? 

For example, if an isolated colony is dying, it may get robbed out. If one isolated colony finds it, the exchange might take place between those two colonies only. 

However, if robber bees returning to a large apiary drift into the wrong hives, they may alert many hives about the location of the dying colony, which in turn would dispatch many more foragers, and the whole thing could snowball.

PLB

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