> It may be a slump now, but the ones which have
> survived (or have been “naturally selected”) are
> going to be the progenitors of the new colonies,
> and they will most probably be able to survive
> this onslaught.
Only if it’s a natural cycle phenomenon.
If it’s due to GMO or new seed/fert/pest treatments,
big ag may be changing the commercial hive ecosystem
faster than the bees can adapt.
It won’t just be big apiary that will be unhappy
about that.
Well, yes, probably, but IIRC, some hives in the same farms have survived. So, wouldn’t that mean that they may be able to repeat the trick again?
Natural selection needs not a ‘cycle’ for something to be able to survive. The asteroids that wiped out the dinosaurs and other large life-forms, leaving out the smaller ones, certainly weren’t a repeating phenomena in the normal sense.