<html><head></head><body fpstyle="1" ocsi="0" data-blackberry-caret-color="#00a8df" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: initial;"><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Interesting question with many aspects. Is a colony resident in the wall of a church feral? Or on the underside of a concrete bridge? Given the population density of manged colonies the genetics are likely blended to a high degree. </div><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></div><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It is hard to tell if a wild colony is surviving or is dying and the nest is being repopulate by swarms. </div><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In general my beekeeping friends say that wild swarm are full of disease or mites and either die or need great care. So it is unlikely they or more tolerant. It just that we only see the survivors. </div><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></div><div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">John purdy PhD. </div> <div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="display:initial"></div> <div style="font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Rogers network.</div> <table width="100%" style="background-color:white;border-spacing:0px;"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: initial; text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <div id="_persistentHeader" style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); border-top-width: 1pt; padding: 3pt 0in 0in; font-family: Tahoma, 'BB Alpha Sans', 'Slate Pro'; font-size: 10pt;"> <div><b>From: </b>Maraiah Russell</div><div><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, September 7, 2016 12:27 PM</div><div><b>To: </b>Peter Bernhardt; Bee United; Pollinator List-serv; Peter Wyse Jackson</div><div><b>Subject: </b>Re: [Pollinator] Feral Honeybee Health?</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(186, 188, 209); border-top-width: 1pt; font-size: initial; text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><br><div id="_originalContent" style="">
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<p>I think Tom Seeley is one of the experts on this, a list of his many publications is here:
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; COLOR: #000000"><a href="http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/seeleypub.shtml">http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/seeleypub.shtml</a></div>
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; COLOR: #000000">The wild populations seem to handle the Varroa better, and possibly are adapting. Their natural comb size, frequent swarming, and smaller colony size have all been proposed as reasons
why Varroa isn't decimating their populations like managed colonies. I have no idea about the Colony Collapse Disorder.</div>
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; COLOR: #000000">Maraiah Russell</div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; COLOR: #000000">Fort Wayne Children's Zoo</div>
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<font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Pollinator [pollinator-bounces+maraiah.russell=kidszoo.org@lists.sonic.net] on behalf of Peter Bernhardt [bernhap2@slu.edu]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, September 06, 2016 8:49 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Bee United; Pollinator List-serv; Peter Wyse Jackson<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Pollinator] Feral Honeybee Health?<br>
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<div dir="ltr">This afternoon Dr Peter Wyse Jackson, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, asked a most important question I could not answer. What is known about the health of feral, naturalize Apis mellifera vs. industrial hives or even home hives?
Do these feral colonies suffer from the same level of Colony Collapse Disorder and Varroa? If you have pertinent literature on this topic please forward it to Dr Wyse Jackson.
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<div>Sincerely,</div>
<div>Peter Bernhardt, Prof. of Biology</div>
<div>Saint Louis University</div>
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