Yoon writes:

> Assuming the gene pool has been reduced, through our vigorous selective breeding to benefit human needs, the stress caused by bee pathogens may well be *the* cause of bee die-offs since varroa, for instance, is a gateway varmint.

I like Yoon and his candidness. I agree with a lot of what he has to say, but I think I have presented a mountain of evidence showing that the bee population has not been damaged by human efforts. Not only are there pockets of original bees such as Apis mellifera mellifera, macedonica, caucasia, etc., but the net result of bee breeding has been to multiply diversity by creating admixtures of these various stocks. 

Anyone seeking copies of the studies I have mentioned is welcome to contact me directly. As I said before, I was pretty convinced that inbreeding was a big part of our problem and I have completely abandoned that point of view in the face of a studies done independently in Australia, USA, and Europe which show that the honey bee genes have not been bottlenecked. 

The second part of the above statement, however, rings true. The presence of varroa in the mix is more than adequate to account for all of the problems we have seen vis a vis compromised immunity and the resultant collapse of bees from viruses, microsporidians, and quite possibly pesticides and environmental pollution. 

plb

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