New paper out states
> Commercial breeders select against swarming, defensive behaviour and propolis usage, thereby probably compromising colony defence and social immunity (Meunier 2015). Indeed, in Africa, where the majority of honey bee colonies are not
kept by man and where beekeepers are mostly side users not interfering with natural swarming, queen rearing etc., the virtually non-bred local subspecies have less desirable beekeeping traits, but a superior health compared to European ones (Pirk et al. 2016). This supports the notion of a trade-off scenario between commercially desired traits and bee health.
Neumann, Peter, and Tjeerd Blacquière. "The Darwin cure for apiculture? Natural selection and managed honey bee health." Evolutionary Applications (2016).
Comments:
1) Modern beekeepers do not select against swarming. Swarming is normally controlled by giving adequate space, removing brood, using young queens, etc. I haven't had a hive swarm in years
2) The survival of African bees in Africa may be due entirely due to the behavior of African bees, and have nothing to do with management issues
3) The failure of breeding has little to do with methodology and all to do with the genetic potential. You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
4) Killing mites does not change the genetic makeup of the bees. Sure, it allows susceptible bees to survive, but simply letting susceptible bees die is not the magic formula to produce varroa resistant bees. Resistance is a very real phenomena but the way in which it arises in populations is varied and not inevitable.
5) The problems with European bees are not due to centuries of management, the honey bee is still essentially a wild creature. On the other hand, there are management techniques that can impeded varroa development and keep beekeeping profitable, despite the presence of this persistent pest.
6) Keeping a bunch of single story hives which swarm repeatedly and produce little surplus honey is not really bee-keeping, it's bee-having.
PLB
***********************************************
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
|
