>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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