>European bees essentially tolerate us better than say African bees.

Pete, do you not remember the old hot European bees in Calif back in the
day?  Long before AHB.  They were nearly as defensive as a hot Africanized
colony.

In any particular habitat, if the main predator of the honey bee is humans,
then natural selection would select for bees that effectively defend their
stores against humans.

> I submit that the honey bee is more like the cat, that it merely
tolerates our activities and goes about its business essentially unchanged
by us.

Not in the case of my bees in California, especially prior to varroa.
Unless I maintained constant selective pressure against overly defensive
bees, they would tend to drift back towards being more defensive.

Ditto for AFB resistance, and for color.

Other California breeders select for other or additional traits, and
traditionally at breeder queen auctions, other breeders could easily
identify, by the look and behavior of the bees on the comb, which queen
came from which bee breeder.

IMHO, it is relatively easy to breed for a subpopulation of bees that is
distinct from other populations, and adapted to a specific realized niche,
which would include both the natural environment plus any regular
modification by the beekeeper.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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