--- On Sun, 3/8/09, allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> SO, what I want to know is not just that people are seeing
> some reduction in susceptibility, but some good guesses as
> to where the adaptive traits are coming from.  Are they from
> the spread of Primorsky stock, VSH escapees, AHB, commercial
> resistant stock, etc. into the wild bee stock, or are they
> spontaneously and independently evolving in the various
> localities?

Hello Allen,

Your question is entering risky territory.  To be credited as the one responsible for the ’saving of the honeybees’,  perhaps is the most eagerly sought after honor fought for today in the bee breeding business.  I once had a breeder of Apis <censored word> claim that the ferals in Derry PA were recovering due to his escaped  stock, which he suggested found their way to my area from Harrisburg PA.  Who know’s maybe they came by way of Pennsylvania turnpike, swarming westwards some 280 miles and then off at exit 110 and into my little woodland area.  So finding the facts, scattered amongst the EGO’s will perhaps prove to be a formidable task.  

> OK.  We are in agreement that the background adaptation to
> the latest scourges has been rising, but what I am asking is
> where the adaptation is coming from.

IMO, to find the answer, one would need to look back several years to where ‘early recovery’ of feral bees were occurring.  Because, places where escaped domestic bees, or existing ferals rebounded first and survived in the wild would indicate that sufficient resistance exists to sustain the population.  I may have discussed this before concerning a feral colony I found in 2002, but it was flat out debunked by others at the time because the mention of ferals rebounding and having traits of value was taboo and hard for many folks to think of considering the possibility. 

A feral colony found in 2002 is pictured on the front page of the feral bee project yahoo group.  This was the first colony with massive nest structure that I was able to locate in my region since the great varroa crash of 95-96.  Bees in this area 20 miles west of me, were recovering 3 years prior to most other places in my area.  I spent much time investigating why ferals were recovering in this remote farmland and not in other places such as remote woodlands where I had always expected it to occur first.  

The answer I came up with was a simple one, and the most logical.  On my way home from picking up another swarm in that same area in 2003, I found my self saying ’this is perfect bee habitat’.  This area was of very rich soil and small acreage farmland which was abandoned.  A variety of nutritional forage was available, small streams.  Voids were abundant, in the form of abandon silos and farm houses as well as 200 year old hollow trees that lined the landscape where fence rows once existed.

IMO, that a beekeepers bees are able to swarm into the wild and survive today, is not much due to the resistance of that strain, but because <<<the stage has been set priory for them to survive>>>.  The work has been done for them before hand,  by way of a stabilized population and sufficient resistance found within the feral population which serves to limit the influx of parasites and disease drifting into these escaped swarms and overwhelming their defenses. Seeleys hives surviving in the Arnot forest, IMO suggests this possibility.       

-where the adaptation is coming from?
I will use some of your quote and suggest they have ‘spontaneously and independently evolved’ in the various places where <<<bee habitat gives them the edge over the enviornmential factors.>>>   Abundant voids and improved nutritional forage gave bees in these prime bee habitat areas improved health, and most of all <<<TIME>>>.  It perhaps gave the ability for colonies to survive just a wee bit longer when varroa infested their region, and therefore allowed the saving of  valuable resistant qualities to be carried over to the next generation where resistant traits were preserved and pooled together in offspring before the mother colonies succumbed.

The above  -based on anecdotal evidence. 

Best Wishes,
Joe


      

             ***********************************************
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