>.Bee space is not a unit, it's a range. Dadant established the one and one
half inch spacing

Doesn't "bee space" refer to the distance that bees leave between the faces
of the combs, regardless of the frame-to-frame spacing?

>So, you agree that mites and viruses adapt more quickly than their host?


No, that's not what I said. More rapid generation allows for more rapid
adaptation, but there is no guarantee that adaptation will take place, or
that it is necessary.  The tadpole shrimp has a rapid life cycle, yet has
not needed to substantially adapt for millions of years, ditto for many
other "living fossils."


> >But the reason may have more to do with behavior: tropical bees abscond
> and migrate, abandoning their nests, which European bees do not do.


From my reading of the most recent research out of South Africa, absconding
is not the main resistance mechanism of managed colonies that remain in
their hives.



> > There is more opportunity for mutations to occur in a large organism
> which has more cells


The only cells of interest would be the germ cells.  Many small organisms
produce copious quantities of germ cells. That said, the more expendable
the individual, the more beneficial mutations are for evolutionary
adaptation.



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

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