> It is interesting that Tracheal Mites are a classic model for pest/host 
> cycles, as they hit with massive die-offs then disappeared.

You and I are agreed on this Bill.  It is partly a function of having been 
around a while and still having memories of all the previous die-offs.

> A small point. Aussie bees have not bee pressured by Tracheal and most 
> beekeepers have forgotten that it is still around.

If you think the Aussie bees are bad in that regard, take a look at 
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/tracheal.htm

I was told by the people at Baton Rouge when I asked recently that nothing 
has changed in the past decade as far as they could see when they repeated 
the survey in recent years.

At least some of the Aussie exporters have gone to a lot of trouble to 
obtain genetics from areas where the challenges their bees are expected to 
face are found so that they have a degree of resistance.

I'm betting some Aussie bees have better tracheal tolerance than some 
randomly chosen US stock.

If anyone needs help reading the chart on the web page, just ask. 

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