On 8/28/2014 9:24 PM, randy oliver wrote:
> "Locally compatible" would apply to a single colony at a moment in time.
> "Locally adapted" refers to a population (a group that exchanges genes via
> mating) that nature over time has selected to be locally compatible. That
> selection, as Christina points out, could be due to a combination of
> genetics and epigenetics. Over time, the epigenetic effects would tend to
> become fixed genetically, but may be up or down regulated according to
> environmental factors.
Exactly, that's my point. I see lots of encouragement in the beekeeping
community to use "locally adapted" stock, and sellers who offer "locally
adapted" queens, but I don't think they are using the term accurately in
the academic way you describe. I don't believe the typical local queen
raiser who has been doing this for five or ten years can truly say
his/her bees are "adapted", just "compatible". He/she has selected for
compatibility (or the bees have self-selected), but there hasn't been
time or sufficient environmental pressure for biological adaptation, right?
An analogy is that in my neck of the woods (central North Carolina), we
have lots of NY and NJ immigrants. Some of them like the slow pace and
pork-based diet so they stay, are happy and prosper. Others grumble all
the time about how things were where they used to live and (hopefully)
they leave. This is compatibility, or lack of it. There are a few who
CHANGE -- they start saying "y'all", join the Baptist Church and name
their kids "Bubba". That's adapting. Humans are quite adaptable, but
(please correct me if I'm wrong), honey bees are less so, certainly in
the span of a decade. They have traits that will allow them to succeed
in a wide range of environments, but that's not the same thing.
Randall Austin
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