More discussion on the relative aggressiveness of the European Dark Bee, and its relation to honey production:

Abstract —The paper presents the results of the study of the adaptive behavioral trait of workers of European dark bees’ subspecies. The significance of the study is due to the need to decrease the level of aggression of European dark bees and increase its adaptability. The materials of the paper are aimed at revealing the features of the demonstration of aggression of bees during the active period, the degree of its genotypic determination and the possibility of selection for a decrease. 

In the complex of ethological traits of European dark bees, there is a significant and problematic feature, which significantly limits their use in densely populated areas – aggression of workers is higher than that of other subspecies of bees. The aggression of European dark bees as a trait is the response evolutionary developed in the forest and taiga conditions to the intervention in their lives of such natural violators as a bear, marten, and mouse.

In the group of European dark bee families of the Orlovskiy species, it was possible to decrease the aggression of working individuals by 25-33% for three generations of intensive individual selection. The number of bee colonies with the decreased aggression of working individuals, which are typical for European dark bee breed with high winter hardiness, intensive growth, and development during the active period, had the decreased honey production by an average of 28.2%. 

Grankin, Nikolay N., et al. "Aggression of European Dark Bee and Possibility of its Decrease by Selection." International scientific and practical conference" Agro-SMART-Smart solutions for agriculture"(Agro-SMART 2018). Atlantis Press, 2018.

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