Randy and All,
 "Ground thruthing " is a very good concept. It has to take in many conditions to have valid information.
  Many years ago { about 40 } I started putting my bees up in the Olympic Mountains on Forest service land. Over time I started to evaluate locations by elevations and North vrs. South facing. The first part was easy but took about 4 years of data to work out environmental difference ( Weather} I found 2,000 feet North face to be the best. 
  The next step was evaluating different genetic stock. The carni's turned out to be the best stock for my area. NW US.
I tried Russian stock when they came on the line. I had two breeder queens from the white line . They were difficult to get acceptance in the hives. Their behavior was different in regards to the weather. So the management of the hives had to change in regards to the new stock. At the time I had a Microbiologist under Tom Rinderer come by one of the farmers markets I did in Seattle. I found out that I was not alone in what I witnessed . I also found out that the gene expression was different in different geographic locations. ( Common to all stock )
 I was running 180 hives when I went into the mountains. That was enough to get a grasp of variance's in different hives. What I learned was the complexities of beekeeping. I did take one out of the equation by keeping my bees away from other beekeepers and not down wind of agriculture or cities. I had 5 year contracts with the USDA to keep the east side of the Olympics open to me. I kept other beekeepers out. So the data was for the most part was from my beekeeping. 
 The last 5 years I have kept 20 hives at 2,000 feet on the north face of the Olympics and do not move them. The information I have been able to gather  follows along with the study that Jerry Bromenshenk did on CCD. That is the best study that has been preformed so far on CCD.  Years ago I visited Jerry and told him that he was on the leading edge and he said " No the bleeding Edge" That was when he started using computers to track what was going on in a hive and environment. 
 Randy has a great idea and would have to be monitored very close so we do get good data.
Best Regards
Roy Nettlebeck     

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