Honey bee colonies rarely get sick in isolation. Varroa destructor mites and the viruses they vector (notably deformed wing virus) move between colonies through drifting foragers, robbing, drone congregation areas, and — over much longer distances — through beekeepers transporting hives for pollination contracts. This scene represents a set of apiaries scattered across a landscape; each cluster of hives is colour-coded from healthy green through amber to outbreak red based on its current infection level.
Studies of migratory beekeeping operations have found that apiaries near major pollination routes — almond orchards, orchard fruit, or blueberry fields — often show higher Varroa and virus prevalence than stationary apiaries, because seasonal aggregation temporarily creates the same high-density, high-drift conditions this simulation lets you dial up.
A landscape of apiaries, each a small cluster of hives colour-coded from healthy green to outbreak red, connected by forager-drift links that carry Varroa mites and viruses between colonies — with an optional migratory truck that can seed infection far outside normal drift range.
Local spread scales with apiary density and forager drift range, while long-distance migratory transport can jump infection between apiaries that would never otherwise be in contact — and synchronised regional treatment suppresses the whole network at once rather than one apiary at a time.
Raise apiary density or drift range to watch outbreaks spread faster through more transmission links. Toggle migratory transport to see long-range jumps, and toggle regional treatment coordination to see the whole landscape cool back down toward green.
Because migratory beekeepers move colonies to follow pollination contracts, apiaries clustered near major bloom events can temporarily reach densities and mixing rates far higher than any stationary apiary would ever see on its own.