Re. Cape bees in Europe.
I have just read the two items which have appeared regarding Cape bees
in Europe, and feel moved to respond to them, as I feel the tone perhaps
to be a little over-alarmist. I can well understand people feeling
threatened by this in the light of the South African experience, but
drawing precise conclusions from that for other areas may be invalid.
I do agree that, because of the well publicised problems it causes in
South Africa, it should definitely not be taken out of its environment
and experimented with, particularly in areas to which it might be
climatically suited. However, the bee may have some genetic factor which
is of use in the varroa resistance field which does merit further
research, although it should probably be done within the bees native
range.
However, in the early years of this century, when bee people were
unaware of these kind of problems, almost any kind of bee you can think
of that was known at the time was experimented with in Europe. I have
read (I cannot recall where) that this bee was tried in Britain during
the inter-war years (20's I think) and found to be unsuccessful. No
residual problem of Cape bees is known to be found here and, because of
climate, any true Cape colony would die first winter. I cannot imagine
that, with the possible exception of the Mediterranean/Iberian areas
with very mild winters, the climate has changed so much that the bee
could now establish itself widely in Europe. (The importation of exotic
races of bees to Europe and the UK for breeding and research has
continued until relatively recently. Brother Adam's work with bees from
Crete and East Africa in the 1980's is well documented, but I am sure he
would not have been alone)
In the first of the two articles it appears to assume that because of
the presence of a laying Cape worker in a European colony that any queen
raised the following year WILL be pure Cape. I don't know enough about
the South African situation to know if this is the case, and would
appreciate clarification as to whether that is definitely so, but it
seems to me that the percentage risk of the new queen being Cape would
only be broadly in proportion to the number of eggs the queen and laying
worker were producing, and even then only in an emergency cell situation
(which includes deliberate grafting), although, in the presence of a
laying worker it would be difficult to get these cells drawn. I don't
know if the laying worker ever deliberately lays in swarm cells or not.
If only a small proportion of these colonies went on to produce Cape
queens AND remain genetically pure (incidentally, what will they mate
with?), then the total impact here would quickly stabilise with slightly
increased winter losses. If ALL do then we definitely will have a
problem. However, a diploid egg from a worker must surely be effectively
a clone of that worker, and thus be the product of both the original
Cape queen and whatever drone was responsible for fertilising the egg
which went on to produce the laying worker, and thus, if matings are
with European drones, the bees will become genetically more and more
dilute with each passing generation. The absence of difficulties with
Cape bees in the UK today tends to make me believe that natural
selection would eliminate the problem.
Obviously the first article is from a source which knows a great deal
more about the Cape bee than I ever will and is talking from a position
both of knowledge and experience, but I feel that calm reflection on a
percieved problem is probably more appropriate than starting a scare
which may be the unintentional result of posting the item. I would
suggest seeking further in formation from some of the members of Apinet
who may know about this experiment and whether it exists or is merely
an apocryphal tale.
Please do not interpret this as any kind of criticism. It is not. It is
just my point of view on this item and, I hope, a reasoned contribution.
Murray McGregor
--
Murray McGregor,
Denrosa Ltd.
Coupar Angus, Scotland
e.mail:- [log in to unmask]
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