Peter L Borst wrote:
> But we have been over this many times. All I am saying is if ferals are
> surviving on their own, don't look to the genetic makeup of the bees,
> because the fact is they are usually not really isolated and therefore not
> different from other bees in hives in the same general area.
I agree. I came away from Tom's talk that the change was in the mite,
not the bee. If it were in the the bee then they would have done well
with the introduction of outside pressure (horizontal) but they
succumbed just like an apiary colony. They did not develop mite
resistance, but the mite, when in a more or less closed environment,
changed to accommodate its own survival.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
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