>Thus, for the commercial honey bee stocks we tested, management practices by beekeepers in terms of selection of locations and ensuring appropriately sized colonies in the fall appear to be stronger factors in determining colony success than queen genotype, though overall queen quality is undoubtedly an important factor.

This pretty well sums up what most successful beekeepers have long known and would fall into the "duh" category in my opinion. If bees were allowed to breed absent any human intervention for many generations and other colonies were prevented from invading the territory geographic variation would probably  come about. That is not going to happen. The bees breeding behavior and our industry practices are exquisitely designed to conspire against any such attempt at isolation.

My bees are very well adapted to close varroa and disease control along with excellent foraging opportunities and benevolent care from an experienced beekeeper. Given those conditions they do very well with little regard to the location of the queens birth. As we have often said here, about the best a small beekeeper can do is breed from their best and cull the under performers. 

Large scale breeders may in time come up with bees that can control varroa and perhaps other common maladies. They are to be encouraged. I don't have the educational credentials to have an opinion about when or how. I do believe that it is a fools errand to think that queens raised for a few generation in a specific location will have any advantage that outweighs good basic beekeeping.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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