>>Haplotype patterns characteristic of the European races most
commonly used by commercial queen breeders were found in 66% of the feral samples.

No doubt, ferals absorb traits/genes of bees from breeders' bees if they are advantageous in the local area.  If local beekeepers select well queens from breeders for their area, those genes will enter and be propagated in the feral population as well. 

On the other hand, in analyzing feral adoptations, I would want to know first the ratio of ferals to managed colonies.  If you have, say, one feral colony to 30 managed, I think the managed genes will dominate unless the environment harshly selects them out because they are ill suited for that area.  In fact, the influx of managed genes, if ill suited, can doom the local ferals!

I once reviewed the geographic spread of my club's beekeeper members and their reported numbers of colonies to create a mental picture of the managed landscape.  [While not all beekeepers are members of the club,] I was puzzled to find most feral colonies in areas not known to have beekeepers.  Areas with lots of large diameter trees yielded removal calls very consistantly [although the removals were mostly from homes]. 

Frankly, I can't say with certainty what is the primary force driving the feral population...  There are several of us doing removals in the area so the ferals are taken out to a large extent I'd think.  [There seems to be no tolerance for bees in suburban homes.]  Despite that, when revisiting areas were I had done removals, I see bees on blossoms!  Furthermore, I maintain, evaluate, and propagate from the collected ferals so their genes are not eliminated.

My best deduction is that it's a see saw.  Following mild winters, I think ferals swarm, populate areas, and perhaps dominate the feral gene pool.  Following harsh winters, many less ferals survive and are in a position to swarm.  Then, managed colonies' contribution to the feral gene pool may be dominant.  This assumes managed colonies are better prepared for overwintering by beekeepers than ferals but the opposite may be true (honey is not taken away from the ferals and their nests are undisturbed in the months prior to winter).

To find correlations and some good answers, one would have to study specific areas over many seasons.  I am not aware of anyone who has done that - except for Tom Seeley and if I recall correctly his forest was not surrounded by hundreds of managed hives.  My observations do not paint a complete picture.

Waldemar
 

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