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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