> >"My thesis is honeybees have adopted a strategy of "stasis", and this
> strategy contributes a further inertia to some of the peculiar features of
> the super-organism."
>

Not arguing, but my own thesis is a variation.  It appears to me that A
mellifera attempts in every way to maintain and conserve the greatest
diversity of alleles from the entire population in each and every colony.
In addition, the high rate of recombination favors the trialing of novel
genetic combinations, which are then screened for fitness via the haploidy
of the drones.

This system, which also includes the conservation of allelic combinations
from both the current and previous year (drones from last year's
combinations vs virgin queens from this seaon's), allows for the rapid
recovery of bee populations after decimation events (drought, fire, virus
epidemics, etc) with the minimal loss of allelic diversity.

In addition, it rapidly selects for regional adaptations, allowing for
quick subspeciation.

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

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