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Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:51:03 -0400 |
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Dave Cushman said:
“If the amalgam that you propose is so desirable why has nature failed to
capitalise on such a system ?”
We are talking about the DOMESTICATED honey bee here are we not? I
strongly suspect that absent human interference the honey bee would have
found ways to survive anything NATURE dealt it. Populations may have come
and gone but the species would have continued on. The point is that nature
is not the entire cause of stress in the honey bee. Of course humans are
part of nature, but by convention we separate those factors that we produce
from what is considered “natural”. Anyway the problems we are trying to
solve are largely those that our own involvement has created. I am not
sure that nature has much chance to capitalize on something that we are so
closely involved in. (I almost said: … that we are constantly messing
with.) We consistently confuse the distinction between what is a problem
for the honeybee and what is a problem for us beekeepers. So what
capitalizing looks like to nature is not always what capitalizes us. The
way nature deals with things is not always pretty to us humans. We might
not like the results and we are tempted to short circuit the process.
Having said that, I personally find interfering is a big part of what makes
beekeeping interesting. I want control!
I think it is worth asking, absent human involvement, how much genetic
variation would exist within populations of honey bees in nature and the
answer is undoubtedly just enough but probably not all that much. It would
be at the places of overlap of otherwise isolated populations where you
would find the greatest mixing of diverse genetic information. But could
you generalize and say that it is at these places of diversity where bees
would have the greatest chance of survival in the face of natural
challenges? It seems like it would depend on the specific challenge and
whether it generally or specifically related to the genetic makeup of the
various populations within the species. For example it’s clear that Varroa
are harder on some varieties of honey bee than others, but here again there
are man made factors at play that obscure this picture. Cell size anyone?
Unnaturally close distribution of colonies? Etc?
Steve Noble
Whidbey Island, Washington
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