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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 07:02:27 -0500
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> neither honey bees nor humans are constrained 
> by evolution but rather enabled by it. 

But both humans and bees are so now so completely domesticated as to make
"evolution" irrelevant for both, and "breeding" the only possible source of
change.  If bees were to evolve in any way, one would think that they would
have done so in the very long time (longer than humans have existed) that
they have remained "unchanged" in the eyes of Paleontology.

> We are among the most highly adaptable 
> species, and do not have very strict requirements.

We've had a habit of changing the environment to suit our preferences, the
mega-scale projects of the periodic burning of the prairies by native
Americans, and the cultivation of what we called "rain forest" by the
central and south Americans being two examples.

I think that the various invasive species could be said to be the most
"tolerant" of a wide range of environments.  Not to get picky, but nothing
really "adapts" unless the plant or animal can first tolerate a new
environment.  "Adaptation" might gradually optimize for the different
environment over time, but enough plants/animals have to tolerate the
environment and survive to reproduce to allow random mutations to take place
and create the better-adapted organism.

"Natural" seems to be nothing more than a rationalization of a choice
between purchases by people who don't have a firm grasp on the full scope of
the issue at issue.  One man's All-Natural fish oil capsules (not to be
confused with Snake Oil!) is another man's overt threat to the survival of
penguins, which are not left with enough food after the trawlers do their
work to harvest the fish used merely for their oils.  Several species of
penguins may be extinct in the wild in our lifetimes due to overfishing and
other pressures.

Propolis is another product that everyone tells me is an "all natural"
curative for many ills, and I always listen politely to the testimonials as
I take their money for little tiny bottles of tincture.  But I've seen my
bees in Virginia go wild over newly-laid tarcmac at the edges of repaved
roads, so I hesitate to make such claims myself.  I usually limit my
endorsement to "it is far cheaper than the co-pay at the doctor, so why not
try?".

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