> On Aug 26, 2015, at 9:48 AM, Charles Linder <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> I know bees drift,  and how to see that.  What I am wondering how MITE immigration is confirmed or disproved.

We quantified the weekly invasion rates and the subsequent mite population growth from
the end of July to November 2011 in 28 honey bee colonies kept in two apiaries that had high (HBD)
and low (LBD) densities of neighboring colonies. 

The invasion rates varied among individual colonies but revealed highly significant differences between
the study sites. The average invasion rate per colony over the entire 3.5-mo period ranged from 266
to 1,171 mites at the HBD site compared with only 72 to 248 mites at the LBD apiary. In the untreated
colonies, the Varroa population reached an average final infestation in November of 2,082 mites per
colony (HBD) and 340 mites per colony (LBD). 

Frey, E., & Rosenkranz, P. (2014). Autumn invasion rates of Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) into honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies and the resulting increase in mite populations. Journal of economic entomology, 107(2), 508-515.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html