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Date: | Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:33:45 +0100 |
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I have to come back although I fear that I am wasting my breath - virtually
speaking.
>I would not want to give the impression that I do not
conserve where it makes sense to me
>attempting to minimize adverse (to us) human impact on ecosystems where
>possible and
practical, and where those efforts have an obvious payoff.
So conservation is fine as long as it benefits humans or makes sense to you?
>My issue was with the claim that an attempt to repurify current bee
populations back to a supposed ideal historical strain and create
exclusion zones is "conservation". To me, it is not.
This misses the point completely. In very recent years huge amounts of
damage have been done by selfish beekeepers who have imported exotic races
of bees from all over the world into northern Europe. Their motive is
simply to make a quick profit with no thought for the consequenses of their
actions. This is not 'nature' at work - it is a disaster caused by human
greed. Of course I can appreciate that the point may be lost on some from
the other side of the pond where there are no discrete native races of bee,
but to some of us over here it is important.
>Nature does not seem to be a conservationist, though, judging by
what we can observe over time.
When humans do not intervene, we see nature as an evolutionary rather than
revolutionary process. That, to me, suggests conservation of what is best
adapted to the local environment. Let me give an example. I feed my
locally adapted mainly dark northern European bees around 10lbs of sugar to
get them through the winter. As I get closer to the native bee by
selectively breeding out the unwanted exotic genes, I feed them less each
year - and can see the day coming when feeding will not be required at all.
Compare this with the situation when our National Bee Unit was situated just
outside Stratford in the early 1990's. At one time they had dark bees, but
then Vince Cook - erstwhile National Beekeeping Adviser to New Zealand -
became its new director. He immediately re-queened all the colonies with NZ
Italians - and I am reliably informed that the colonies then needed feeding
60lbs of sugar to survive to winter. If left to nature which bees would
survive - the Italians or mine? Which are more suited to the local
environment? Which should we 'conserve'?
Best wishes
Peter
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