Hi Jean-Francois Lariviere,
Beekeeping needs all the positive image it can receive. The report does
exactly that but because Bee-L is a discussion of beekeeping issues i
feel obligated to give my opinion.
The study reads in part like a white house cover up.
page 4 of Bee Culture
 Quote: The goal of the honey bee importation from Africa was achieved,
and there is now an  extensive beekeeping industry in the tropical parts
of Brazil.
Are we going to say the African bee is a good thing now and our
reseachers are going to give themselves a pat on the back.

Quote:The introduced African bees mated freely with the european bees,
but the Africans dominated,and the bees we call africanized are
genetically 90 to 95% African.

Am i missing something here? At the ABF convention in Austin, Texas i
saw the largest collection of beekeepers FIGHTING to keep AHB out of
their hives. Those beekeepers said they would quit beekeeping before
they would work those bees. Dr. Orley Taylor had to keep his Africanized
bees in nucs as large hives were to aggressive. Even Brother Adam said
they were to aggressive. Which is it introduced or escaped?

I was surprised to see the part about African bees in the article. Are
they suggesting AHB would be a asset to migratory beekeepers.

 Swarming four or five times a year,absconding,not storing enough honey
to survive a cold winter, not being able to improve stock because of the
dominate African gene are enough reasons for me not to want any part of
AHB without even going into aggressiveness! I don't believe U.S.
beekeepers are going to be as thrilled with AHB as the article states.
AHB-super bee or super headache?
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> Quote from page 5 of Bee Culture article:
At the same time, varroa mites pretty much wiped out feral colonies in
the mid- 1990s.
This is the only reference to Varroa in article. What about a small
statement that the commercial beekeeper took a hard hit from Varroa in
the same period. At least Kim Flottum had the guts to improve the
article in Bee Culture by adding the beekeepers side of things at end of
article. Thanks Kim for adding your comments! I believe they were VERY
appropriate in this case!

I have a lot of respect for the bee knowledge the two writers of the
article. I found everything in order with their facts on polination.
>
 a healthy
> beekeeping industry is invaluable to a healthy U. S. agricultural economy.
Maybe we will return to full health one of these days!
>
> The Cornell study was supported by the National Honey Board.

I would support a edited version!
Bob Harrison U.S.A.
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> SOURCE  National Honey Board
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