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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:38:12 -0500
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Dean writes
> which of course make up many of the plans that have not been demonstrated to work.

Which leads to the next question, which is why do breeding programs fail where natural selection has succeeded, at least in certain cases? And my conclusion has to do with colony density. During the years I worked as a bee inspector I found instances of colonies surviving unattended (where the beekeeper had gotten old, or even died). These were invariably one or two hives with no apiaries in the vicinity. Additionally, there are many reports of isolated populations of bees evolving mite resistance.

The chief observation to be made is that these lines cannot maintain this resistance when brought into a different setting. Which begs the question: is this host/pest balance heritable? If not, then efforts to breed from these populations is futile. Even if it is, however, if its existence is critically dependent on environmental factors, then the heritability of it is moot. 

In other words, one may develop a disease resistant plant, say, in a greenhouse, in a micro-environment. But then, if the plant is set outside, it may be unable to resist the pest pressure that exists there. Additionally, what we may be seeing is a red queen effect, where the bees in the general environment *actually have resistance* but the mites have adapted also, and stay ahead of them.

This last question may be the real reason breeding plans haven't borne fruit: while selecting better bees, we are inadvertently selecting tougher mites. 

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