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Date: | Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:42:28 -0700 |
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The whole field of knowledge surrounding treatment free, survivor bees,
resistance/tolerance could benefit from proponents and skeptics using
more precision in their claims. It is not hard to separate out various
components to help clarify what the findings and their potential use
are. Just as a suggestion, here are some components that should be
covered in any presentation of pros and cons of TF efforts (or any
effort at producing better bees in a varroa environment):
1) Survival - needs to be well documented on individual colonies with
periodic observations to prevent counting re-occupations.
2) Lack of treatment - There are environmental conditions or management
activities that could give colonies an unrecognized advantage that
should be revealed.
3) Varroa - If the claim for TF survival is that varroa is kept at low
levels, then evidence should be presented, not assumed.
4) Heritability of the survival or TF condition - The "TF" status has
to be passed on from parent to offspring colonies.
5) Usefulness or adoption of the TF bees by others besides the
proponents - Even though this is the ultimate "goal" of a breeding
effort or of reporting a TF situation, it is not proof of whether the
above components have positive results or not. Also a "failure" to be
used extensively does not mean that the specific effort, or any efforts
in the future learning from lessons in the past are futile.
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