In response to Charlie's questions-

The post on tolerance vs. resistance that Pete posted is the terminology that some of us have been using.  There may be some confusion because some breeders, particularly in Europe, have used tolerance as a term for colonies that have lower numbers of mites.  The ideal level of resistance or goal for breeders is obviously colonies that maintain mite levels below a treatment threshold (another topic full of contradictory conclusions), and that transfer this level to the next generation.

Any intervention that reduces mites and is not transferable to the next generation of colonies, I guess falls into the category of "treatments" and is not contributing to improved genetics.  Some are attempting to breed better bees based only on survival, mixed at times with elixirs of various sorts.  To me that is flying blind and inefficient.  If one assumes that varroa is the constant threat, an effort should at least be made to measure mite levels and document that they stay low across generations (and if possible in different environments), and periodically reality checking the effort by bringing in susceptible material to run side by side (and measuring mites in those also).

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