This thread reminded me of an interview that Dr. Jamie Eliis and Amy Vu had
with Dr. Steven Martin regarding natural varroa-resistant honey bees. At
about the 5:45 mark he clarifies natural resistance to varroa as that which
develops in the absence of human influence and then attempts to make the
case that the suite of resistance traits that emerge are largely similar
across all the resistant populations he has studied:

Episode 35: Natural Varroa-Resistant Honey Bees and Small Hive Beetles
<https://anchor.fm/ufhbrel/episodes/Episode-35-Natural-Varroa-Resistant-Honey-Bees-and-Small-Hive-Beetles-ekpdl9>

As we briefly discussed this summer, this talk builds of the *Parallel
evolution of Varroa resistance in honey bees: a common mechanism across
continents?*
<https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2021.1375> paper
Dr. Martin and team prepared which utilizes data analysis of 60 research
papers published over the past 40 years exploring EHB survival in the face
of varroa pressure across the globe in an attempt to find a unifying link
in all resistant populations.

They concluded that resistant populations tend to have three traits in
common, high rates of:

   - Removal of Mite-Infested Brood
   - Recapping
   - Mite Infertility

Based on the similarity in results from populations around the globe, Dr.
Martin remarks in the interview that he expects that resistance can develop
in any subspecies.

And finally, they offer this tidbit which is interesting and thought
provoking:

*As resistance is a population level trait rather than a single colony
trait, a resistant colony becomes vulnerable if moved out of its population
and could collapse if a sudden influx of mites occurs due to excessive
(40–60%) brood removal. This may explain why resistant colonies moved out
of their population typically do not survive.*

It is to this point that Dr. Martin offers a less than optimistic view of
the prospect of sustainable resistant populations becoming ubiquitous in
the US- but he is far more bullish for the UK.

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