Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported from feral populations or colonies kept continuously under natural selection pressure

Varroa mites have evolved resistance to all available synthetic acaricides

In other words, this discovery is just another step following the footsteps of other failing herbicidal & insecticidal campaigns. Doing things nature's way is inconvenient, so we develop chemicals. But eventually, resistance is developed, and then we are in an arms race that will never end.

It would be nice to see more attention paid to the well-being of native pollinators, which already take care of themselves in regards to parasites & diseases, but whose numbers have been falling in recent years.

Managed honey bee colonies supplement the work of natural wild pollinators, not the other way around. In a study of 41 different crop systems worldwide, honeybees only increased yield in 14 percent of the crops. Who did all the pollination? Native bees and other insects.

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/10/native-bees-are-bett...

There's a second avenue which is the treatment-free solution practiced by some beekeepers. The idea there is to keep the selection pressure and just out-evolve the parasites. Given that managed bees reproduce much more often than natural populations there's a chance it might work and some encouraging results:

http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

For anyone interested, (one of?) the way that this selection pressure manifests is in grooming behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMSIbeKoFQ The trade-off is less honey production and slower comb building.

I mean, you can always withhold treatment until mite counts indicate a problem. Letting mite populations explode can impact other colonies(domesticated & feral) in the area as well.

With care we can prevent antibiotic resistance becoming significant for decades, or we can get it to show up in the first week an antibiotic is introduced. While parasites are slower to develop resistance we still face similar issues with Lice and other pests and we really should consider both the short and long term impacts of any approach which is directly fighting evolution.

I imagine that the reason this isn't done is because it's not in the interest of Big Ag's medium-term profits.

Or, it may be that native pollinators are simply invisible. In other words, they won't know what they've got until it's gone.

My understanding is that synthetics are a specific category of treatment. Oxalic doesn’t fall into that group and I don’t think lithium chloride would either, but someone more expert may have a better idea.

The article talked about Lithium Chloride. Where do would bleach and oxalic acid come in?

1. How long-lasting is the effect? How long does the LiCl stay "active"? Will bees need to be fed this at a regular cadence to keep them mite free?

2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees? LiCl can affect the nervous system (although this is an extremely low quantity). I'm just wondering if there is someone who eats a LOT of honey, could they be impacted (similar to those people who reportedly got mercury poisoning from eating too much fish)

I know very little about the biological mechanisms at work here, but those were two thoughts that immediately came to mind.

The paper says that a single feeding achieved good results, though worse than continued feeding spanning a few days. It seems then that a single treatment will only kill mites that are already in the hive, but will not do anything to help develop immunity. Looks like bee keepers will just have to add lithium compounds to the list of treatments they already regularly apply.

2. Is there any evidence on whether or not the LiCl makes its way into the honey produced by treated bees?

The paper mentions that it doesn’t accumulate in bees wax, though it says nothing about the honey. They discuss potential toxicity though, and it seems that lithium is not toxic to mammals in concentrations relevant here. Certainly there is no bioaccumulation effect here that makes eating fish somewhat dangerous.

When the honey flow starts, you need to add boxes fast - I’m up to 7 and 2 of those have been removed, extracted and put back on.

Interesting how correlation doesn't mean causation :).