>Natural selection doesn't distinguish between local and exotic, only conservationists and anti-immigrant groups do.

This argument and Randy's quote about the durability of undesirable traits being weeded out by natural selection have one big hole in my opinion. The selection is not natural. It is being carried out by beekeepers who have their own criteria and that are often at odds with "survival of the fittest".  Left completely on their own bees would surly evolve to adapt to their environment and historically they did so. That in no way means that they are the best bees for the purpose that beekeepers individually or collectively want in their stock. We have been artificially "improving" our stock for several hundred years and rightly so. There is good argument for preserving existing local lines for the potential they hold for future breeding. There is equally good argument for constantly trying to improve domestic stock to fulfill our objectives. 

Docile productive swine will quickly adapt once gone feral but the result is a breed that will do fine in nature but that no hog farmer or anyone other than a few hunters want around. AHB's are another example. Nature is selecting for them but beekeepers are resisting.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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