>But we are told that bees have a very minimal chemical and biological

> immune system


I'd suggest taking that with a grain of salt.  Bees are no more susceptible
to pesticides than are other insects (citation in one of my recent
articles).


> >So, I wonder for instance whether
> grooming behaviour is important to resistance to tracheal mites.  We know
> that the the two physical actions of early uncapping and prompt mummy
> removal is critical to resistance to chalkbrood.
>

Stan, those are both good points, although neither of those parasites are
generally considered to be serious contributors to current bee mortality
problems.  That is why I didn't include them.

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

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