> >"My thesis is honeybees have adopted a strategy of "stasis", and this > strategy contributes a further inertia to some of the peculiar features of > the super-organism." > Not arguing, but my own thesis is a variation. It appears to me that A mellifera attempts in every way to maintain and conserve the greatest diversity of alleles from the entire population in each and every colony. In addition, the high rate of recombination favors the trialing of novel genetic combinations, which are then screened for fitness via the haploidy of the drones. This system, which also includes the conservation of allelic combinations from both the current and previous year (drones from last year's combinations vs virgin queens from this seaon's), allows for the rapid recovery of bee populations after decimation events (drought, fire, virus epidemics, etc) with the minimal loss of allelic diversity. In addition, it rapidly selects for regional adaptations, allowing for quick subspeciation. -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** 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