<   Does the constant selection of newer younger queens lead us away from a
> genetic goal of longer lived queens??>
>

I guess I wonder if it would make a difference at all... in the wild any
given hive would presumably have a goal of swarming at least once, which
would mean any given nest would requeen annually.  Keeping the same queen
in the same nest multiple years would seem to be a sign of lower
reproductive fitness.  I seem to recall reading that new nest establishment
was a relatively low fraction so it seems to me there might not be terribly
strong selection in favor of long lived queens naturally, since the chance
of establishing 2 nests would be a relatively low probability (the original
and swarmed hive), a third that much more so.  But maybe I'm wrong,
guessing there's not a whole lot of data on queen survival in the wild,
especially with swarming but maybe someone's got something out there?
PLB?  Master of journal searches.

Jeremy
West Michigan

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