> Overall, the proportion of admixed populations has continuously increased – and will likely keep increasing – compared to the proportion of native subspecies populations. More efforts should be dedicated to the conservation of these native subspecies, as they represent local reservoirs of genetic diversity and adaptations (De la Rúa et al., 2009). 

> On the other hand, further investigations should focus on the evolutionary advantages of admixed populations. Their genetic admixture is associated to high level of genetic diversity and novel allelic combinations, which could be the key to respond to new selection pressures.

Leclercq, G., Gengler, N., & Francis, F. (2018). How human reshaped diversity in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.): a review. Entomologie faunistique-Faunistic Entomology.

¶

These two goals seem at odds with each other, and yet -- it is crucial to maintain original population to preserve the integrity of the genomic stock, while improving the vitality of commercially exploited strains by combining diverse lineages into a quasi-hybrid form, such as we have at the present. 

It is debatable whether pure strains exist anywhere, and whether these sub-populations can be self-sustaining in the Anthropocene Era. Some aspects of the past are gone forever, to be sure (efforts to resurrect wooly mammoths notwithstanding). Sometimes we have to let go to move on.

PLB

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