>>> Some researchers are wondering if commercial honey bee stocks are
based on too narrow a genetic base and that this makes them vulnerable
to diseases.

> * Holding up an example of poor breeding practices as an argument against "breeding from your best stock" is IMO misleading to the readers.


Well, that is not what I did. I stated that *conventional line
breeding* which been used for thousands of years may work for most
crops and animals, but it may produce exactly the opposite result in
the honey bee colony. The above statement is taken from Dr. Ben
Oldroyd, one of the world's leading bee researchers. He has traveled
the world studying honey bees including completely wild ones in
Borneo, etc. -- so when he talks, I listen.

He writes: "Despite the wide variety of hangers-on, wild colonies of
Asian honey bees rarely have serious infections that can potentially
kill them, and most are pictures of robust health."

A bee colony is simply different from a plant or animal; it is a
society. One certainly would not think that having all the members of
a city of 50,000 from the very same mother and father would be a good
thing. There are many hundreds of roles to play in a group that size
and a wide diversity of the population is of great benefit. Imagine a
city where everyone wants to be a baker, an artist or a cop.

Regarding the bee colony, I realize this is a very difficult concept
to get a hold of and the implications are far-reaching. It has been
twenty years already since it was first proposed by Tom Seeley and his
collaborators. Maybe another twenty years are needed to see what it
really means for the improvement of honey bees. Maybe what is needed
is a truly wild type, not a line bred hybrid or even a "feral" which
in most cases is simply an escaped domestic colony.

> There is an accumulating body of evidence to support the assertion that genetic diversity from multiple mating has a functional role in division of labor and in improving colony homeostasis, and that the links between genetic diversity, GTS [genetic task specialization] and improved colony outcomes are becoming clearer. (from: "Genetic diversity promotes
homeostasis in insect colonies" by Benjamin P. Oldroyd and Jennifer H. Fewell)

-- 
Peter L. Borst
Danby, NY  USA
42.35, -76.50

picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

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