<I seriously doubt whether natural selection has had much effect on US
honey bees, since human selected bees are far more numerous in most
locales, and any queen that mates in the air is going to get hit by
whatever local drones happen to be hanging out close by. But this is common
knowledge, has been for 200 years.>
As far as I'm concerned selection is selection. Humans just apply
different selective pressure because we put the bees in a different
environment etc. I try to buy Northern bees these days not because they
have "naturally" adapted to the local environment over hundreds/thousands
of years, but because the people breeding them are more likely to select
for traits that are a benefit in my location, e.g. wintering etc.
Jeremy
west Michigan
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