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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Jose Villa <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 3 Apr 2018 12:22:39 -0600
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As Randy has suggested, there are roughly three groups of honey bees in 
the U.S. with different degrees of separation depending on the 
circumstances: feral, commercial, and hobbyist.  The lines separating 
them can get pretty blurry and probably have become more in the last 
decade.  The sharing of genes and pests, and the constant 
genetic influx from the commercial to the hobbyist and then to the 
ferals makes the appearance of any local adaptation essentially 
impossible in most places.

Even with some local isolation, it may take many years for any kind of 
adaptation to local conditions to emerge because it depends on soft 
selection- a slight advantage in terms of reproduction for those 
colonies with a beneficial trait, while those who do not have the trait 
still survive and can reproduce to a degree.  Also, it could be that 
many honey bee "genotypes" are fairly plastic in responding to local 
conditions, making a genetically based characteristic less likely to 
emerge.  On the other hand, the pressure of varroa may produce a 
different time frame for "adaptation" in that it is strong selection, 
killing almost all colonies not adapted.  But colonies resistant to 
varroa may be just that, and not have any other special attribute for a 
region.

So yes, right now, in the U.S., spotting a locally adapted colony may 
need to start with a blessing from some bee guru.

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