On 24/10/2012 1:55 AM, randy oliver wrote:
>> What if we try to breed not only betters bees but also less aggressive
> varroa?
>
> This strategy would only work if all beekeepers in a continent all agreed
> not to restock colonies from any other than mite survivors.  Otherwise,
> natural selection will always favor more aggressive varroa.  This sort of
> beekeeper cooperation will never happen in the U.S. in my lifetime : )

Not sure this is correct Randy.  In many (most?) cases there is a 
tendency for the invasive organism to become less virulent.  It needs 
the host to be readily available, not wiped out.

So resistance and lower virulence go hand in hand.

Geoff Manning

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