Layne detected in an expert
>the attitude that honeybees should be
managed based on behavior rather than genetics.  In the end, isn't that
what it all boils down to?

        As a strong advocate of the Pauper's Split, I am glad to see this
eminently sensible remark.

         Over the 1990s I bred a strain of bee which achieved net storage
over the winter (in a benign temperate suburbia with flowers at all seasons
and far under saturation with bees) while also extremely mild so that I
could rip off a frame of honey in summer wearing no gear at all.   Even a
major rebuild would evoke only a few stings.  I have hardly ever worn
gloves.  (On the other hand when I wanted some stings on my arthritic
ankle, I could usually evoke a few by wearing no shoon.)
        I have v little interest in any DNA fragments that might have been
made from those bees at various stages in that adaptive process.  I suspect
that only those who know as much as I do about DNA can appreciate how
little it matters.  (I say so with my fellow biochemist Sheldrake in mind.)
This point is compounded by the inherently social nature of our favourite
insect  -  many properties of the colony will (I expect) never be reflected
in any individual's DNA.
        Vislble correlates, whether macroscopic in veins, size of larvae
limited by 4.9mm cells, etc, or microscopic e.g fragments that can be
extracted from DNA, may be of some use as surrogates for interesting
properties (good or bad) of the colony, but for practical purposes
empirical vernacular breeding is by far the main hope.

        I hasten to add that I feel the same about other animals, and
plants.  Grandmother Smith in a Sydney suburb has given the world more than
all the gene-jiggerers put together  -  and without any identifiable
threat.   The highest priority should be to retain, and continue to breed
from, the numerous superior strains (e.g apples, and many vegetables) that
are going extinct year by year.


        Select on the properties of the colony is IMHO the main slogan.
        Since the males roam over a  region 10^3 sq km, it would seem
desirable for all or most beekeepers in that region to follow similar
guidelines.  This should not be hard to achieve among people more concerned
for the health of the biosphere than for short-term money.  Those who are
primarily involved with bees for commercial reasons need not find any
conflict with principles of applied ecology.  D T Suzuki will enlighten you
-  arguably the best N. Amer intellectual in the past half-century.

R