> I think it is relatively safe to say 'Darwinian Beekeeping' is untenable for commercial ... Is broad resistance expression possible? I'd suggest that contemporary research suggests it is.
Right. But it's important to look at the bigger picture. There are pockets of troubling honey bee losses but there are also vast areas where hbs are thriving.
> The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, lives worldwide in approximately 102 million managed hives but also wild throughout much of its native and introduced range. ... we estimate that there are approximately 280 million wild A. mellifera colonies worldwide, which is more than double the number of managed colonies reported by the FAO in 2021 (102 million).
I think it's safe to say these numbers are very wide of the mark. One good easily say there are probably half a billion (500 million) colonies of Apis m. and uncounted numbers of the other species (cerana, dorsata, etc.) This is not an endangered species. The authors say
> the vast numbers of wild colonies, not to mention the approximately 102 million managed colonies, surely mean that the word endangered, which is frequently used by the media in the context of the honey bee, is far from accurate even though beekeepers, especially those in North America and Europe, have faced increased challenges in maintaining healthy live colonies in recent decades (Genersch, 2010). On a positive note, it also shows that in surviving its challenges the honey bee will be aided by natural selection on wild colonies in many locations.
Granted, possibly half of these bees are A. m. scutellata but beekeepers throughout the Americas are making use of these for pollination and honey production, and there are signs that subpopulations of A. m. scut. are as manageable as other A. m. types. They may not be ideal for interstate pollination but there are ways around the problems (refrigerated trucks, etc.)
I don't think any knowledgeable beekeeper believes beekeeping is on the way out. And obviously, if somebody has a better strain of bees for sale (that is to say, actually better) then it will sell itself.
PLB
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