>Well, Chile is a great place to supply you with healthy bees, very far away

> from Asia and A. cerana.


> >In the mean time Western Australia is a good option free of EFB and far
> away from Cairns and the East.


The import issue involves several factors--expediency, politics, profit, and
biology.  The Australian bees proposed for export are almost certainly free
of mites (but not of viruses).  Since we've already been importing them, it
is unlikely that they would bring in any novel pathogens *this year.*

One could certainly make the case that the import of bees this year from
either Australia or Chile is *unlikely* to add new pathogens to our
population.

One could also make the case that it is a waste of effort to ban imports,
without coordinating such a ban with Canada and Mexico, since parasites do
not respect arbitrary political borders (as opposed to the physical barriers
of oceans).

However, in the bigger biological picture, one should consider honey bees in
the U.S., Australia, or Chile to be classified as introduced invasive
species.

As Darwin noted, introduced species often enjoy the great benefit of a
reduced parasite load by not bringing their full complement of parasites
with them to a new continent.

The new book "Infectious Disease Ecology" details how invasive species go
through four phases (you can read pages 160-164 on Amazon):

In brief, the newly-introduced host (the bee) thrives due to lack of
pathogens.  Then pathogens arrive, and spread through the host population.
Then the host population suffers.  Finally the pathogen decreases due to
lack of host.

The end result is a recurring oscillation of host and parasite abundance
(note the episodic bee collapse events that have been documented).

Up until 40 years ago, North American honey bees enjoyed freedom from a slew
of parasites that have arrived since.  Both Australia and Chile currently
enjoy such freedom from some of the major parasites, and I suggest that
beekeepers there enjoy that blessing, for it will be temporary.

In the long run, honey bee populations on all continents will likely become
infested with every bee parasite on the planet.  The trade of bees from one
continent to another expedites that process.

I wish my friends in Australia and Chile every option to extract American
dollars from us.  However, the political/trade/profit gains are short term.
Biological invasion is generally forever.

Randy Oliver

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