Dave Black wrote,
   > "I'd be inclined to select the mites not the bee."
 
   I agree that it would be easier, and there's also the possible strategy
   of importing selected non pathogenic mites, but it's not obvious to me
   that such mites (either selected in place, or imported) would solve the
   varroa problem. They would (by definition) have a lower reproduction
   than the pathogenic mites.
   I suppose their reproductive success could be higher at a certain scale,
   if the high reproductive ones' success was reduced as they killed their
   host bee colonies. It's just hard for me to have confidence in such a
   mechanism, considering how well varroa spread across the landscape.
 
   It would be an interesting experiment to mix the 2 varieties (such as
   introducing "pathogenic" varroa into a population such as the one
   Buchler described in Austria, to see if one variety would readily be
   naturally selected.
 
   And.. what about the offspring of matings between the two varieties?
   Super-varroa?
 
   Regards
 
   Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
   B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
   1201 103 Ave
   Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (250) 784-2231     fax (250) 784-2299
   INTERNET [log in to unmask]