David Eyre responded to a previous query:
 
>        There has been a lot of work done in Europe on Varroa, and in general
>a dead hive doesn't mean the death of that strain of Varroa. As the hive
>declines the remaining bees realise they are not getting ahead and abscond,
>taking the Varroa with them of course. This explains why some hives, even
>after being treated in the fall, will fail over winter. There is a massive
>influx of bees with large quantities of Varroa attached absconding to
>healthier hives. What we should try and do is, as our German counterparts
>do, treat all hives in an area at the same time; this successfully prevents
>the above problems.
 
   And Allen Dick added:
 
>I believe that this is being done in a number of areas in North
>America too.  One of the things we (The Alberta Beekeepers
>Association) have been contemplating is the practicality of
>including it in our provincial Bee Act.  I think we concluded that
>it would be difficult to legislate, but should be something that we
>attempt to organise on a voluntary basis.
 
********
 
   My comment:
 
   One can concentrate too intensely on interactions between bees, to the
detriment of viewing the colony as the ecological unit in an area.
 
   Furthermore, all the colonies within flight range of one another
collectively represent a larger unit in the ecological realm.
 
   For the past few decades bee researchers have just not paid sufficient
heed to these larger ecological units.  With varroa, however, we no longer
have any choice --- treatment for varroa on a colony by colony unit or even
on a bee yard by bee yard basis is simply inadequate to meet the threat.
 
   The difficult question:  "Can we expect beekeepers within a given
political unit to join forces (cooperate 100%) and treat simultaneously on
an area-wide basis?"
 
   If beekeepers collectively take no such steps, swarms leaving bee yards
will continually repopulate cavities left vacant by feral colonies that
previously had been wiped out by varroa.  A continual reservoir of infested
colonies will then be available to re-infest colonies kept in apiaries.
That is, as the untreated new feral colonies die out from varroa, their
stores will be robbed out once again by apiary colonies and the varroa
inhabitants will get a free ride to low incidence colonies.
 
   And:  Does anyone seriously believe a volunteer program would be
effective?  Rather, the "Tragedy of the Commons" law would almost certainly
come into play.  ("If only I don't go along, it won't matter."  Maybe not
--- provided only ONE beekeeper thought so!)
 
                                                Adrian
 
 
 
 
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