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Date: | Fri, 18 Nov 1994 07:59:00 -0700 |
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Regarding drone drift:
Rob Currie did a PhD ('88?) specifically on drone drift, at U of
Manitoba with Prof. Cam Jay, who with several students over many years
had studied other aspects of honey bee drift. Cam has retired and Rob is
now Professor (and working with varroa, since Manitoba is one of the few
areas in Canada, where varroa is well established).
My recollection of Rob's conclusions is that drones drifted extensively
within a yard, less to nearby yards, but were not found in yards
further than 1 km or half a mile away.
I don't remember if Rob looked at drift to queenless hives, but it
is sometimes very obvious. A good question would be whether drones
follow queens (or other drones) back from congregation areas. This would
be more emigration than drift.
It looks to me like there is certainly something that distributes varroa
around, more than the conventional drift model would suggest. In B.C.,
the distribution of varroa in an apiary (and in a region) has been much
more uniform, even during the very initial stages, than was the case
with tracheal mites.
Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
1201 103 Ave
Dawson Creek B.C.
V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299
INTERNET [log in to unmask]
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