Again, I think it is useful to keep a picture in mind of how the “domestic” 
honey bee evolved in nature.  Because I think the honey bee is more closely 
defined by this than by the things that man has introduced into the 
equation in what is a fairly short period of time in evolutionary terms.  
What strategies has the species developed to ensure its success, and to 
deal with problems such as parasites and communicable diseases.  What are 
the dispersal mechanisms, and what are all the advantages that these 
mechanisms convey?  What are all the specific survival benefits that are 
served by the unique way that bees breed in nature?   When you really get 
to looking at it you are struck by what a complex set of interrelationships 
go into constituting the honey bee species.  And you can’t see what a honey 
bee is, in its naturally occurring condition, without seeing as much detail 
as you possibly can of the environment that it chooses under those 
conditions.   
   Once you have sort of grocked all you can of that, then you look at the 
situations we humans put bees in, and you can begin to see where some of 
the problems we are having with what we are trying to do with them are 
coming from.  Also, if you really do understand the complexity we are 
dealing with here, you might be a little more skeptical, as I am, about 
whether breeding techniques will be the silver bullet that some think.  
Again this is not to say that any level of human exploitation of honey bees 
is detrimental to the species.  Bees have used us to their advantage to a 
large extent.   
    And as far as other forms of animal husbandry go, the same basic 
principle applies.  They are also having their problems as is agriculture 
as a whole.  And now it seems cloning is entering the picture, and I can 
say for certain that limb will not support the weight of the livestock 
industry and the weight of an ever shifting microbial world.

Steve Noble    

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