> does anyone know whether the queen breeders 
> that supply Bob and his friends are indeed 
> selecting for CCD survival? 

Mo one has yet speculated about survival among 
colonies classified as suffering from CCD,
so even an anecdotal report of such "survivors" 
would be encouraging news.

If anyone reports any survivors, I'm sure that
there will be great interest, but the queen 
producers have yet to even work out a way to 
consistently offer even Tracheal Mite resistance
in their queens, so I don't think we should build 
up false hopes about skills and abilities.

> Any sign that the US beekeeping industry is 
> learning these lessons?  

The use of the term "lessons" seems to indicate
that you feel that "breeding from survivors" 
has been a success.  Please cite some examples,
as I can't think of any unqualified success in
this area.

> breeding resistance to Nosema ceranae and 
> viruses is almost guaranteed to work.

If this was true, why don't we today have 
bees that are resistant to at least Nosema APIS?
Nosema apis has been around for a loong time,
and has been proven multiple times to be
a disease of significant economic importance
to beekeepers, so where are the resistant bees?

In regard to viruses, I have to point out that
viruses mutate much more rapidly than the 
efforts to defeat them.  Every year, "The Flu"
requires a different vaccine, as it changes 
every year.  I therefore have to take issue
with the claim "almost guaranteed to work".

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