Bill said:

> The conclusion I came to is the bred bees are different, but the bees that
> are not bred through selection are not changed from the ferals.


Right you are, Bill!  I was hoping that Peter Detchon would hop in to
clarify, since he has both the yellow "Better Bees" queens from the isolated
Rottnest Island breeding program, and also some colonies of dark bees that
he recently purchased from another beekeeper.  I looked at each.  I have a
better understanding now that I have read the paper, and see exactly what
they were referring to.

It appears that the feral population can absorb the drones and swarms of the
selected "yellow" managed bees, yet still maintain its separate genetic
identity.  Beekeepers who do not purchase the queens mated on Rottnest
Island wind up running bees that are genetically similar to the feral
population.

Note that this situation is similar to what occurred in South Africa, as
detailed by Mike Allsopp (posted previously by Peter Borst).  Also similar
to other countries in which the honey bee was not endemic.  That is, the
feral population of bees may be started by escapees from managed apiaries,
but eventually attains its own genetic identity in many areas, despite the
influx of further managed escapees.

Beekeepers can maintain genetically distinct colonies in their operations by
constant requeening (e.g., maintaining European stocks in Africanized states
in the southern half of our country).  However, without constant requeening
with selected queens, generally from out of the area, the managed population
will become genetically indistinguishable from the locally-adapted feral
population.

Varroa temporarily changes this situation, by decimating the feral
population (in the case of European, as opposed to African, bees).  When
that happens, the "ferals" (as Peter Borst points out), consist largely of
escapees from managed operations.  However, each colony soon succumbs to the
mite, unless they exhibit mite resistance through mechanisms such as VSH,
small clusters, or frequent swarming.

In this case, there is no true "feral" *population*, but rather a number of
*individual colonies* that are temporarily living a feral existence, with
limited life expectancy.  However, after enough years, and given some sort
of isolation from constant genetic influx, a true feral population will
eventually reestablish, as reported by the likes of Tom Seeley and Joe
Waggle.

Such de novo feral populations will be a great resource in our search for
the next generation of mite-tolerant honeybees.

Randy Oliver

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