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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Richard Cryberg <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 28 Dec 2018 17:59:49 +0000
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" High-altitude adaptation in humans is an instance of evolutionary modification in certain human populations, including those of Tibet in Asia"

Is this really adaptation?  After all the genes for this came from our sister species, the Denisovans, as a result of species crosses.

In honey bees I have read there is a fairly systematic change in body size between southern Europe and northern Europe.  This might be the best example of local adaptation in honey bees.  The problem with local adaptation in the US traces to no borders and lots of migratory bee keepers.  The net result is a constant flux of genes transported across the country by both migratory bee keepers and also queen producers shipping nation wide.  I have blood in my tiny apiary from CA, GA, LA and OH from purchased queens.  It seems to me that local adaptation in the face of such gene movement is unlikely.  It would take really intense selection pressure to over come all that gene movement and I doubt if such selection pressure exists to any great extent.  By contrast, at least until very recently Europe has been quite different.  They have had lots of political borders around small sized countries and little long distance migratory bee keeping.  That could have allowed gene selection to happen.  Thus the difference in size, if it is really true, had lots of time to happen.  But, it is not obvious that much else has happened even in Europe.  But, if adaptation has happened Europe would be a far better place to look for it than the US.  Expecting to see significant local adaptation in under US conditions seems very unlikely to me when you spend a minute thinking about the consequences of all our gene movement.

Dick 

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