3 ms·
You're right - and due to panmixia and the strong capacity for beehives to spread and intermingle their genetics, a site treated with 'standard' practices with
by filthy-animal 3y ago
You're right - and due to panmixia and the strong capacity for beehives to spread and intermingle their genetics, a site treated with 'standard' practices with many hives acts as a genetic bomb, damaging the whole species in the region, while the owner likely complains about natural beekeepers being at fault for distributing varroa.
Of course, they'll never get rid of varroa without also getting rid of all natural, feral (or wild) hives. That would be an immense natural loss, and it's the direction that commercial beekeepers (and those influenced by commercial practices) are taking things.
Fortunately, there are some sharp people with a solid understanding of bees and bee genetics that are fighting this tendency, breeding bees with new behaviors, and tracking down isolated wild/feral hives that are surviving well because they have adapted characteristics that help them fight varroa. The wild/feral hives have to be pretty far from commercial facilities, because of the massive capacity of these facilities to pump out poor genetics.
So far, there are brood-killing behaviors (checking on the developing bees, sniffing for varroa, and killing the immature bee of it's infected), and mite-biting behaviors (grooming other bees to remove or harm the mites directly).
The sad thing is, that the bees can largely adapt to Varroa. It's the beekeepers that can't let them do it, because it means taking losses.
- cryptonector 3y agoThe good news is that low-treatment ideas are spreading -- they might win out in due time. > The sad thing is, that the bees can largely adapt to Varroa. It's the beekeepers that can't let them do it, because it means taking losses. It's not even clear that it means taking losses. It might only mean taking losses for a while.