At 01:44 PM 10/16/05 -0700, you wrote:
>I can appreciate that it's always fun to try and pick
>apart a study. I provided a few excerpts, but it is
>always helpful if one were to read the study.
>

I'm not intending to pick apart the study, I'm just questioning your
understanding of what you cited. I wasn't sure I got it. I wanted to make
sure I understood what you were saying.

>"....throughout the study the colonies with African
>mtDNA consistently had slightly greater brood
>production, almost twice as much pollen collection
>activity, and traveled approximately 600 m less per
>round trip of foraging"

Boy if they could just calm the girls down some and tone down that
swarming/absconding tendancy, they'd be great :)

>One efficiency expression with the AHB is its
>reproductive output in rearing more brood than the
>European group (i.e. fitness).  Reproductive output is
>positively correlated with foraging efficiency.
>

I'm particularly interested in foraging efficiency because in  my area,
good forage is hard to come by and competition for it is HIGH. I believe
competition is a big factor affecting the foraging choices my bees and the
other bees in my area make. I know there are other bees foraging in my
apiary's front yard and I suspect my bees are foraging further away from
home than they would if they had less competition. It is for these reasons
that I don't see foraging efficiency in quite the same light as you appear
to. If my bees go further and work harder for their share of the spoils the
locale has to offer than other bees do, I think that's a good thing,
considering the alternative- foraging closer to home and coming up short.
The ability to successfully compete for a scarce resource is an important
factor for survival.

George-

---------------------------------------
George & Nancy Fergusson
Sweet Time Apiary
326 Jefferson Road
Whitefield Maine 04353
207-549-5991
http://www.sweettimeapiary.com/

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