> To make the answer short, if we know some phenotype can be changed by breeding for more or less of that phenotype we know it is genetic.

Hi all
Our friend Mr. Cryberg has provided an excellent overview of what we do and do not know about honey bee behavioral genetics. I suggest reading it several times. Clearly there are heritable traits, but the genetic bases for them have not been mapped out (may never be). Many labs are working on this. 

I was researching to do an article on this very topic but was overwhelmed by the volume of information. Unfortunately, most of it is in the form of data and conjecture about what those data mean. I think there is a consensus that "marker assisted breeding" isn't going to be an important tool for bee breeders. Trait selection is more likely to pay off. 

For a relevant story, look into Luther Burbank's plant breeding. Several scientists spent many months with him and concluded his work completely non-scientific, yet he was successful in developing new varieties the old fashioned way. Science has yielded results of course, but of a different sort. 

P

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