There are several reports of honey bee populations in Europe which survive without treatment for Varroa. However, when evaluated outside their native area, higher survival and resistance traits were not observed in colonies of a survivor population. For instance ... the two European survivor populations ‘Gotland’ and ‘Avignon’



When colonies descending from the Avignon survivor population were tested outside their native environment in a Europe-wide experiment, neither their Varroa infestation rate after one year without treatment nor their survival outperformed that of colonies descending from non-selected genotypes tested at the same locations, showing that the resistance traits are strongly influenced by genotype x environment interactions. 



Similarly, in the same experiment the mite infestation rates and survival data of genotypes originating from ‘Varroa-tolerance breeding programs’, did not differ significantly from non-selected genotypes, when tested at locations outside their native habitat. Indeed, the most important result of the Europe-wide experiment was a significantly higher survivorship of the local genotypes compared to the nonlocal ones. These were considered ‘local’ when the strain had been bred or simply kept in that area for at least 25 years, with no introduction of foreign stock.



Meixner, M. D., Kryger, P., & Costa, C. (2015). Effects of genotype, environment, and their interactions on honey bee health in Europe. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 10, 177-184.



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