>>> African bees do much better than Europeans in the tropics.
>> How, exactly? The specific mechanisms and tangible traits/behaviors to look for don't seem to be described anywhere.
> Specifically, tropical honey bees have the habit of absconding when nectar flows dry up...
This is a strange form of "doing better", as it is not a "local adaptation" that anyone would welcome. I saw all 3 prior messages in this thread about AHB, but they are irrelevant to the discussion, as no one wants to breed from them. These "traits" make them an invasive pest. I know that at least Florida has outlawed the keeping of Africanized Honey Bees (hat tip to Jerry Hayes, who had to enforce that).
These are not traits of value - I was asking about **positive** traits in support of the (seemingly preposterous) claim that "locally raised", "locally-adapted" bees are a thing, and do something specific that can be measured to prove their superiority in a
If this (AHB) is the best example of "measurable traits for local adaptation" that can be found by our resident historian, I think that this illustrates why I view the concept of "locally-adapted bees" is about as valid as the claimed "feral survivor stock". I've been shown a lot of "feral survivor stock", and I am amazed at the number of feral survivor queens that show coloration that somehow looks like they were marked with a queen color. Talk about adaptation!
Yes, it is fun to raise queens, and it makes great fodder for talks, magazine articles, and club projects, but it is about as practical a pursuit as my recent rebuild of the SU fuel pump for my '52 MG TD, a device which includes its own "points" that must be adjusted with watchmaker precision. Most T-series have long since had their pumps "upgraded" to include solid-state modules, as "who's to know?", but some of us are hardcore, old-skool, and purists. The reason that the British drink warm beer is that Lucas and SU make not just British automotive electrical parts, but also British refrigerators.
>>>> the Landes eco type comes to mind as a example
This is a great example!
Quoting the paper that attempted to measure the brood cycle of these types:
https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2007012
"The regional flora was dominated by two major nectar producing plants, alder buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula L.) in late May through early June and common heather (Calluna vulgaris L.) in September."
"The cycle of drone brood production by ecotype colonies... a rapid increase in drone production from mid-April until early June. This early season peak in drone production was followed by a decrease in drone rearing through mid- August, when drone production increased until mid-September. By contrast, control colony drone brood production peaked in early April and diminished slowly until ceasing in late June."
This is very similar to Carnis, which are very sensitive to changes in environmental production, and shut down brood rearing the moment that groceries stop coming in the door, yet explode in early spring with the first pollen patty and syrup they are given, even in snow. They also do an excellent job of reacting to a dearth, as the "Landes eco type" seems to do.
But would a "Lanes eco type" persist in the same brood-rearing schedule if taken to an area with a continual bloom, without such a sharp dearth? The researchers somehow did not think of this simple test. I know that Carnis will happily go exploit whatever they find, when they find it, so I'd think that Carnis are likely to outperform even the Landis eco type in that "Landis" area, as the trait is less consistent among those "Landis" bees than the Carni "highly reactive" behavior is in the normal run-of-the-mill production NWC stock from Strachan Apiaries.
So, is the trait a "fixed brood-rearing scheduled", or are these bees merely reacting to the environment as Carnis do?
If there is a fixed schedule that persists no matter where one moves the bees, then one has a true locally-adapted bee. But if the trait does not persist when moved, then it is nothing but "Carni Genes", misunderstood as miraculous by French romanticism and what seems a very early attempt at differentiation using what is now called "EU protected geographical indication", a fancy way of creating protectionism and non-tariff barriers to trade, such as in attempts to claim that "Champagne" can only be labeled as such if it comes from the Champagne-Ardenne region. The same scam is being attempted with Gorgonzola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Asiago, Cognac, etc.
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