> Does anyone have any theory on how the bees
> are able to suppress the mites ability to
> reproduce?

I don't know about the New Zealand study specifically, although I agree with Peter that it sounds a lot like the work John Harbo did.  At first John thought he had isolated SMR (Suppressive Mite Reproduction) although he was never sure what were the means that suppressed the reproduction (the gist of Ian's question).  Subsequent work revealed that the suppressed mite reproduction wasn't a function of some trigger (or lack thereof) that was causing the mites to not reproduce, what was keeping the mites from reproducing was the fact that the bees could detect the presence of mite infested larvae/pupae and the bees were pulling said larvae/pupae from the cells and ejecting them from the hive.  The mites didn't reproduce because they were evicted before they got the chance.  Hence the acronym SMR was replaced by VSH (Varroa Suppressive Hygienic).

Aaron Morris - thinking about cleaning house! 


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