At 09:02 AM 10/16/05 -0700, you wrote:
>
>That the European group had to forage further shows that they had to
>work harder for the same rewards, and therefore less efficient in
>performance.

So they had to work harder for the same rewards. Wouldn't this make them
MORE efficient? At the risk of anthropomorphizing here, one could say they
CHOSE to forage further. And perhaps was not they're reasoning (??) that
flying further to forage where there was less competition was worth the
extra effort? Would they have faired as well foraging closer and competing
more?

And if they HAD foraged closer, would the AHB have faired as well with the
increased competition or would THEY then have decided "Hey, it's a little
further to that field over there but a lot less bees to compete with!"
Would you then consider the AHB less efficient because THEY had to work
harder for the same rewards?

And hey wait a minute! If the AHB foraged more efficiently (less travel,
less competition) why didn't they produce MORE?

George-

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

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