Hi all
I guess this has been out for a while, but I just now saw it. They look at the ancestry of Canadian bees. They predicted that northern bees might have higher levels of Apis mellifera mellifera (M lineage) due to the alleged hardiness of that type. What they found was the opposite, Canadian bees are mostly C lineage (Italian/Carniolan) and more so the farther north you go. They attribute this to the fact that Canadians import very large numbers of queens from US and elsewhere. "Locally adapted stock" therefore would be rare.

* * *

We predicted that Northern Canada could favour genotypes derived from honey bee subspecies accustomed to similar environments, such as the M  group subspecies

We found a significant negative correlation between M  ancestry and latitude and a positive relationship between C  ancestry and latitude indicating that colonies in Northern Canada tended to have higher proportions of C  lineage

It may be that the relationship between M  lineage ancestry and geography are not a result of local adaptation but by differences in beekeeping practices.

We found no relationship between the number of colonies managed by a beekeeper and the levels of C, M  nor A  ancestry of his/her samples

We did, however, find that regional importation practices influenced ancestry. Beekeepers at latitudes >50  self-reported purchasing more queens outside of Canada than beekeepers at lower latitudes

Western beekeepers also reported importing more queens than Eastern beekeepers. We found that imported colonies (colonies reported to have been bought outside of Canada) had significantly more C ancestry

We have demonstrated here that contemporary Canadian honey bees are largely derived of C  lineage subspecies, similar to populations in the United States.

This pattern is likely a result of both North American and Australian beekeepers long favouring C  lineage bees for their docility and higher honey production.

North-western Canada had more C ancestry (less M) than South-eastern Canada. This is counter to expectation as northern colonies were expected to be comprised of more northern-derived (i.e. M lineage) ancestry

Our data suggest that gene flow within Canada is very high; most beekeepers (86.9 %) reported purchasing queens from breeders within Canada rather than rearing their own queens. Canadian beekeepers import 150,000–200,000 queen bees from the United States each year

We found low but pervasive levels of African ancestry in Canadian honey bees. Levels of African ancestry in Canadian bees ranged from 0.1 to 33 %, very similar to levels of African ancestry found in Australia

Beekeepers in Ontario have maintained Buckfast bees—those developed by Brother Adam— since the 1960s. Buckfast bees were originally crossed with the A lineage subspecies A. m. saharensis. The original Buckfast bees brought into Ontario were partially derived from A. m. saharensis and A. m. monticola.

Harpur, B. A., et al. "Assessing patterns of admixture and ancestry in Canadian honey bees." Insectes Sociaux 62.4 (2015): 479-489.

 

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html