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Date: | Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:42:19 -0500 |
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Are these conclusions based on the large cooperative study involving
many countries/labs in Europe published as a series in JAR? It was a
large effort, but in these large cooperative efforts it is everyone
follow the same protocols. The methods presented in those papers
indicated that each cooperator chose different ways of dealing with
varroa- some let things sort out without any intervention, others used
cultural control methods, some may have used some intervention based
on levels of mites rising. With that variation in methods, it seems
like a lot of factors can get confounded and limit the ability to make
general conclusions.
This conclusion does not make sense. The Avignon and Gotland bees
appear to curb mite reproduction in brood through some mechanism(s)
yet to be determined. That reduction of reproduction should translate
into decreased growth of mite populations, regardless of other
environmental conditions. If the tests had been standardized and
varroa allowed to grow in colonies depending on their level of
resistance, then these mechanisms should have made a difference
consistently.
In other words, resistance to varroa is likely a stronger component of
how colonies perform than local adaptation. Unless colonies are
treated, and then other factors become more important.
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