Hello again, and as is this is my first attempted reply on BEE L I hope it
comes through as a reply to the thread, and in reply to Ruth and Peter in
particular.
At the outset, I think it will be difficult to comprehensively answer the
questions posed and the assertions made in one short post, as there is
enough material to fill up a graduate level seminar on the subject.
First, I started selecting for mite tolerance in 1992, when Africanized
bees were rapidly beginning to exert an unmistakable influence on the feral
population across Texas, but especially in Southwest Texas.
Especially in the early years (1990 - 1997) and particularly the first 5
years after AHB arrived, the behavior exhibited by Africanized colonies was
truly frightening. I am happy to say that it has been 15 years since I
have seen any Africanized colony behave like most did in the early and mid
90s. The initial invasive front and the first few backcross generations
were often monsters, but one does not see the same behavior any more, even
in feral swarms once established. Parasitic Africanized mini-swarms were an
unexpected problem that reduced the effectiveness of drone saturation - the
technique that we (= collaboration with Baton Rouge and Tuscon bee lab
personnel and ex-personnel) had demonstrated would work (using only
recessive traits from two 'European' populations as the model), to prevent
meaningful incursion into a population protected by drone saturation. We
struggled until the early 0's to keep our bees manageable, but since that
time have largely eliminated the hyperdefensive behavior that colonies
headed by our queens would occasionally exhibit.
Second, and responding to Peter in particular, it is not rational to treat
"Texas Bees" as some homogenous subspecies that all exhibit a common
behavioral profile. I operate Bee Weaver Apiaries right around the corner
from my cousin, who operates R Weaver Apiaries. One of the reasons my Dad,
Binford, and I split away from them was because they did not want to pursue
selecting and breeding bees that could naturally cope with Varroa, and
thrive despite mites and the viruses they vector. Though most of our
mating yards are separated by a few miles there bees are quite different
from ours. So there are likely differences between our population and other
bees produced and sold by other beekeepers in other parts of Texas too.
One of the companion papers published in Science, to coincide with the main
honey bee genome paper in Nature, was entitled Thrice Out of Africa..., and
in that report you see data from 5 managed colonies in Texas, compared to
samples representing populations of feral colonies from Brazil to South
Texas. Those 5 colonies were Bee Weaver breeder queens genotyped for the
same ~1500 markers as the other samples. Using STRUCTURE, one of the
leading statistical programs to recover signals of genetic stratification
in populations, we show using the k=4 STRUCTURE plots (for the 4 principle
subspecies of Apis mellifera (ligustica, mellifera, caucasica and
scutellata) that there is a detectable signal of scutellata in those
breeder queens, which incidentally, were quite mellow and could be worked
to pull grafting larvae in a short sleeve shirt. Confirming Peter's point
(at least I presume it was his point) that behavior can be uncoupled from
New World African influence.
I have more data in a manuscript not yet submitted that links particular
markers to Varroa resistance in a genome wide association study, comparing
my bees and other resistant strains to vulnerable colonies. Stay tuned -
if I ever get the 3 days time I need to put the finishing touches on that
work....
I'll try to post a note to the list once it's in-press. I have another
paper also close to submission that is a transcriptome study from several
million RNA seq reads of bees of mine (that exhibit reduced mortality and
lower titres of virus) when challenged by direct injection of what is a
lethal dose of DWV, KBV etc. to most bees. Very interesting gene expression
differences, and also immunological differences, between my bees and most
strains when challenged by viral pathogens.
Are my bees defensive? Well that depends on what you're comparing them too
I suppose. In my experience there are strains of Italians and Carniolans
that will remain docile if you bang on the hive with a hammer or dump a
pallet off a truck. My strain will usually let you know that was a
mistake. However, they can be managed with smoke, I keep hives literally
right out my front door in Austin, Texas where anyone and everyone
approaching my house walks within one foot of them, and we have no problems
with stinging behavior. I can often work my bees in good weather with no
veil, short sleeve t shirt, short pants and barefoot. Do I do that when I
am working up brood and moving queen cells into brood above an excluder in
an apiary of 60 super-strong colonies that we go into every third to fifth
day? NO. I am not stupid. I put on a veil, long pants, shoes and long
sleeved shirt.
I have gone out of our way to attempt to constantly test and verify and
challenge our colonies to ensure that we haven't just produced weak-kneed
mites and ensure that our bees remain resistant/tolerant to viruses and
mites - I routinely buy nucs and/or packages from CA and FL that come with
mites, and let those colonies grow, then dwindle and finally succumb in the
typical fashion, in apiaries of my own stock that then come in and rob them
out. Occasionally one of the colonies with a Bee Weaver queen will succumb
in that situation, the vast majority do not collapse from Varroa and
survive and thrive.
Best I can do for now,
Daniel
Daniel Weaver
Genformatic, LLC
6301 Highland Hills Drive
Austin, TX 78731
Direct: 512 565 4693
www.genformatic.com
On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 4:54 PM, Ruth Askren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Danny Weaver said:
> >>Africanized influence may
> play a small role in what we've accomplished, but it is not the major
> player, as the detectable *A. mellifera scutellata *introgression in our
> population remains a minor component of the genome.<<
>
> Questions for Danny:
> Are you saying that you've successfully done what we've been
> discussing, i.e., "separate out the unique trait from the
> undesirable traits" in AHB's, and somehow carried it into a new,
> and reliable hybrid?
>
> What does "scutellata as only a minor part of the
> genome" mean with regard to aggressivity, swarming, parasitizing etc?
>
> With no disparagement intended, I have also heard the words
> "Weaver" and "hot" mentioned together a couple of times.
> What do you make of this? If it's not the Africanization, then what is it?
> I ask because I'm keenly interested in the success of
> forward-thinking enterprises like yours, but need help in
> understanding your position on these important matters.
>
> Thank you,
> Ruth
>
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