>That is not to say we could not breed a mite resistant stock that was pretty much bullet proof with respect to mites.  That obviously can be done.  Maybe not as easy as breeding for docile, but still very doable while also still retaining the desired qualities such as honey production which these authors lost or never had.  The problem is maintaining those good traits in the hands of people who do not know how to set up a breeding program.  It is unlikely to happen.

These types of responses baffle me - may be due to naivety, but why do we always default to the 'magic bullet' ultimatum in these discussions? Populations like Avignon and Gotland become textbook scapegoats in favor of failure is obvious so why bother perspectives. The corpus of research available at this point makes this a tired old argument and simply identifies that it is not a matter of possibility anymore - it is a matter of willingness. Those who aren't willing can easily support those who are - those willing to risk loss and progress for the sake of species betterment. If failure is imminent the loss is theirs, but achievement of the "final solution" would benefit those who chose to sit on the sideline or armchair the effort - but benefit nonetheless. 

Since my first nuc I have asked the question "why do we seem to select for so many other traits like temperament but not something as equally beneficial as resistance?" The heritability of temperament is just as low with as much potential variation (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12837024/), maybe even lower, than resistance mechanisms (https://doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0534-0012/2012/0534-00121201047J.pdf)- but we will opt for that instead of resistance as if it is a guarantee in a selection program with half the efforts those breeding for resistance would make. Once more willingness becomes the lynchpin in these dialogues - it is much harder to monitor, select, and requeen than it is to prophylactically treat and breed from the calmest hives - which again research demonstrates most colonies revert to higher levels of aggression within two generations, begging another favored argument against selection for resistance. 

Lastly I ask, if the suggestion is to gravitate toward an isolated and inbred scenario where the magic bullet can be pursued and that fails due to the absence of diversity (Gotland), and our response is to attempt it in a higher degree of diversity with lower prevalence of preferred heritable traits (Avignon), what do the bees tell us then? The bees tell us quite a bit actually - and to an extremely high degree - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17641199/)(https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article-abstract/85/3/335/26979?redirectedFrom=fulltext)(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12596763/)(https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2007.1620).

I think the question should then in turn be rephrased from 'why bother' to 'why aren't you?'

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html