One thing that I have heard very little press on about the Russian bees
other than someone stating that they are the only legal importation of
a new strain of bee since 1920 is the fact that this new genetic
material (imported bee) has generally been unbred.  It is a wild type!

The lines we have used for close to 100 years in the states have been
carefully selected over this time period to reflect the needs of the US
industry.  The analogy could be made that these strains are similar to
the lineage of breeding for race horses.  They have very specific
breeding lines of carefully selected traits.

I think ( though I admit that it is only a speculation) the bees we
have been used too are very predictable based on the selection of, and
removal of,  of genes regulating behavior (swarming, attitude, honey
production, spring buildup, etc).  Our standard lines of bees are a
controlled population with limited expression of traits which provides
a very predictive behavior.

   Now arrives this "Russian bee"  with a whole set of genes, behaviors,
traits that make  for a different bird.  These genes will be intermixed
with other strains over time.

My experience with these bees, match my experience keeping bees in N.
Africa with the Tell bee.  One sees variability in behavior, a less
predictable wild strain!  This makes it more difficult to put them to a
regular set of management activities as one colony looks like this, act
like this & the next is very different.

The addition of the Russian genes may have an unpredictable effect on
our "bees" but what I've heard both anecdotally and from the
publications of scientists working with these new populations (SMR,
Hygienic, Russian, Buckfast) they are affecting us all because of the
distribution of drones.  Recognition of the distribution of genetic
material bby the drones has elevated its status somewhat!

It would be interesting to have seen what effect and what timeline
introduction of the yellow italian bee had on beekeeping at the turn of
the century (1875-1925)  as it replaced, mixed with the European lines
favored during langstroth's time.

Mike Griggs
http://bees.library.cornell.edu/

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