Hi Everyone,

Murray wrote in part:

"Too many assumptions being used by most in this. There seems to be
little proof that bees of a single given type fly faster or slower just
according to their size.

The only time I have seen a seriously backed up correlation between
smaller bees and faster flight was in a discussion a long time ago which
involved Garth Cambray (whatever happened to him?) and others. In that,
and subsequent discussions with yet other people involved in monticola
breeding, it was stated that the mode of energy conversion in African
bees, particularly scutellata, is such that they can fly faster and
earlier, and hence outcompete European bees in areas climatically suited
to them. (Dont ask me to explain it, as it had me well baffled to begin
with at the time.) Unfortunately this did not take place solely on Bee-L
so archive searches would prove incomplete."

You might be on to something important here.  Researchers like Chip Taylor and others have shown that the respiratory enzyme systems of african and european bees differ with the african types being faster.  Now these are systems of enzymes that work together to produce energy from food in the insect ( and us and other animals as well ) and there are several enzymes that work together in a system to do this important job.  This is why the researchers tell us the african bees are able to fly faster.  In fact they do everything faster as their metobolic rate is faster than the european bees.  This is an advantage in a continually warm climate but not in a temperate climate where forage in not available for long periods of time.  

If the bees in southern AZ USA now fly faster than they did 10 years ago I strongly suspect it is due to african bees taking over that area.  This is expactly what several researchers have in fact reported to have happened.

This matter of enzyme systems that have to work together for an organism to function properly is probably why Dr Taylor has observed a lack of hybridization between african and european bees over time.  That is this probably explains why one type of bees seems to take over an area and displace another type with little mixing being found.  

Interesting discussion.

FWIW

blane





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Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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