> There are several reports of honey bee populations in Europe which survive without treatment for Varroa. However, when evaluated outside their native area, higher survival and resistance traits were _not_ observed in colonies of a survivor population. Varroa infestation is strongly influenced by environmental factors, probably affecting threshold levels on a European scale. In a Europe-wide experiment colonies of local origin survived significantly longer than colonies of non-local origin, clearly indicating the presence of genotype–environment interactions. (Meixner 2015)

We have heard this before, starting with Tom Seeley's attempt to propagate survivor stock taken from the forest and moved to his lab which is in a mixed land use area near the University campus. The bees performed no different than so-called domestic stock. This points to environmental conditions being far more responsible for survival of ferals than some unique genetic make-up. They go on to say:

> When colonies descending from the Avignon survivor population were tested outside their native environment in a Europe-wide experiment, neither their Varroa infestation rate after one year without treatment nor their survival outperformed that of colonies descending from non-selected genotypes tested at the same locations. Similarly, in the same experi- ment the mite infestation rates and survival data of genotypes originating from ‘Varroa-tolerance breeding programs’, did not differ significantly from non- selected genotypes, when tested at locations outside their native habitat.

Finally:

Varroa-resistant populations of bees are known, but recent research suggests the pres- ence of a highly significant environmental effect on Varroa infestation rates which may be stronger than the effect of the bees’ genotype.

SOURCE:

Meixner, M. D., Kryger, P., & Costa, C. (2015). Effects of genotype, environment, and their interactions on honey bee health in Europe. Current Opinion in Insect Science.

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