>But why would it matter to the bees if there's a river 40 miles away?

Good catch. That's why you're the editor! That would be 5 miles (not
50 miles) - a local water source.

Dwight Wells gives a good presentation of this team's approach to the
2021 Michigan Beekeepers Association Conference:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pclQ9n2pTtY

A quick write-up of the approach is included here:

https://www.farmanddairy.com/news/beekeepers-seek-out-resilient-feral-honey-bees/693538.html

They work quite a bit with Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay’s lab at Central
State University.

She released the following research last year that examined three
paired colony sets (feral versus managed) in the same location:

The Life Span and Levels of Oxidative Stress in Foragers Between Feral
and Managed Honey Bee Colonies

https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/22/1/20/6523141?login=false

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