>I would suggest thinking about the conversations of local adaptation,
genes, etc in terms of population and not in terms of individual
hives.

Exactly, Blair!  And this is what the most successful queen breeders have
long done.  However, working at the population level means that one's
selection must affect a substantial proportion of the population.  This was
made easier as varroa eliminated (at least temporarily) many feral
populations.  But the resurgence of hobby beekeeping sometimes makes it
more difficult as they flood the environment with a mixture of stocks of
various heritage.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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