Bill wrote:

> What we try to do is take a bee, which was settled in an area in some 
> other part of the world that is similar to our area, and try to make it 
> work. In some cases it works and in others it does not.

This would appear to be a logical way forward - the problem occurs when 
migratory beekeepers, or neighbours, move in with other ideas.  Here in the 
UK we do not have the problem of very large migratory outfits, but our 
beekeepers are probably in closer proximity than in the US and often favour 
a variety of different races of bee; this, combined with a considerable 
amount of 'local' migration makes it very difficult to maintain pure strains 
in some areas.

> There was an interesting article in a recent Science News about California 
> Salamanders. An import helped in the survival of a native species because 
> of hybrid vigor. The problem is that there has not been enough time to 
> tell if that vigor is lasting.

Although F1 hybrids often display very attractive hybrid vigour, F2 and 
subsequent generations tend to be far less vigorous and may, as you say, 
express many bad traits of their predecessors.  Whilst this may not be a 
problem for agricultural crops where seed is routinely bought in each year , 
it is a problem for beekeepers because not only do they have to keep buying 
new F1 queens, but they are at the same time contaminating the gene pool in 
their area - making them even more dependant on the hybridising queen 
producer, as they are unable to produce good queens for themselves.

> So bees in the UK can be bred for the area because they were there 
> "forever"

Not that easy!  The bees that have been here forever tend to be in small 
pockets and constantly run the gauntlet of the imported bees - Italians, 
Caucasians, Carniolans etc - not to mention Buckfast!!!

You do have at least one great advantage in many areas - vast amounts of 
countryside with beekeepers well separated.

Peter











 And there never will be
> because of the tremendous diversity of climate and topography in the 
> Americas. Eventually there would be regional bees just like the rest of 
> the world.
>
> Bill Truesdell
> Bath, Maine
>
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