BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:16:54 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (16 lines)
It is quite clear from the work that has been done in Tucson over the years that in any area where African bees become established it is impossible to maintain true European colonies. The AHB simply out-competes them in every respect. Warwick Kerr is revered by the bee research community in Brazil and elsewhere but it is quite clear that he is responsible for one of the greatest ecological disasters of our time. He did nothing to stop the onslaught of this invasive pest. Over the years he has written hundreds of papers, but the majority of them are about tropical beekeeping in Brazil.  I don't think he had any answers for us then, he never came up with any useful remedies, and can offer no salient advice at present. Those are my opinions, what follows is a supporting reference.

> The expansion of Africanized honeybees (AHB) through the Americas has been one of the most spectacular and best-studied invasions by a biotype. African and European honeybees (EHB) hybridize, but with time, tropical and subtropical American environments have become dominated by AHB that exhibit only 20–35% genetic contribution from western European bees, and a predominance of African behavioral and physiological traits.

Environmental physiology of the invasion of the Americas by Africanized honeybees
Jon F. Harrison, Jennifer H. Fewell, Kirk E. Anderson, and Gerald M. Loper
Integrative and Comparative Biology Volume 46, Issue 6 Pp. 1110-1122 (2006)

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm

ATOM RSS1 RSS2