Our aim is for the Western honey bee to survive ectoparasitism. We already know the path evolution chose between A. cerana and Varroa jacobsoni. It was the honey bee that adapted more aggressive grooming and a kind of apoptosis when drone larvae are parasitized, both of which limit varroa reproduction. One could argue that evolution and human efforts are not that far apart when you consider that beekeepers are also trying to restrict varroa reproduction. The question is whether human actions are at odds with an ultimate balance by continually providing fresh bee stock to an increasingly more robust mite population.
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