Waggle and others reply regarding my question;

>Can you provide any evidence to prove that being smaller makes them
(AHB) any more "harmonious" with nature?<

Where have you shown that just because a bee flies further it is "less
efficient"?  The opposite could just as easily be true, based on your
assumption.  Have you shown any data to show that the big bee is using
"more" energy?  "Researching citations", to prove a point, by the index
can be risky.  You are getting into "resource partitioning", "speciation"
and other "deep" subjects.

From another angle, Apis are what I would call "selective generalists",
they only work certain plants and only under certain conditions.

(There is always something cropping up to disprove an assumption.  This
year I saw bees refuse, for the first time in 35 years, to work
Loosestrife.  I have always heard that Loosestrife never fails, but it
did this year, locally at least.  What was going on, I don't have a clue,
but I "suspect" it was the really excessive ongoing heat and humidity.
Nectar/honey/sugar is hygroscopic and I think it may have diluted the
nectar below the threshold for Apis.)

Seeley's research would be a good place to start reading, rather than
scanning the index of one of his books.  If we consider your flight
distance data in that light, perhaps "small" bees were forced to work the
less rewarding material because it was "energetically" not viable to go
beyond that zone.  This is all conjecture on my part, lacking as I do any
personal data, but is only one of several scenarios I can envision that
"might" fit the data you cite.

Regarding the size issue further, you might want to check out the
research of Roubik.  Make sure you follow his results to date, as he
continues to research the effect of AHB on Meliponid species in CA, he
has revised some of the conclusions he drew as his data base increased
over the course of his ongoing research.

All that aside, I for one, welcome the presentation of data rather than
just "because it makes sense" rhetoric.  I can't recall the song title of
the song or performer, etc. but one line in it has always stuck in my
head, it goes "'... cause never was the reason for leaving for the tropic
of Sir Galahad...".  It don't hold a candle to Allen's quotes, but it has
said something to me for years.

Rip

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