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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Isis Glass <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 14 Nov 2005 07:15:21 -0500
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What is being discussed here, like it or not, is evolution. Evidently more
people in the US no longer accept evolution than do. But if you are going to
cite evolution as a factor in the emergence of hardy bees in the wild, you
have to refer to the actual facts of evolution. The fact is: evolution takes
a lot of time. That's why human beings resort to breeding; they don't have
time to wait around for "nature to take its course."

In Chapter 4 of The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote:

It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising,
throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that
which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and
insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers, at the
improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic
conditions of life. We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until
the hand of time has marked the long lapses of ages.

* * *

The light-colored form of the moth, known as typica, was the predominant
form in England prior to the beginning of the industrial revolution. The
typica moth's speckled wings are easy to spot against a dark background, but
would be difficult to pick out against the light-colored bark of many trees
common in England. Around the middle of the 19th century, however, a new
form of the moth began to appear. The first report of a dark-colored
peppered moth was made in 1848. By 1895, the frequency in Manchester had
reached a reported level of 98% of the moths.

In recent years, the burning of cleaner fuels and the advent of Clean Air
laws has changed the countryside even in industrial areas, and the sootiness
that prevailed during the 19th century is all but gone from urban England.
Coincidentally, the prevalance of the carbonaria form has declined
dramatically. In fact, some biologists suggest that the dark forms will be
all but extinct within a few decades.

* * *

In both these passages there is reference to time. In the case of the moths,
it is decades, not eons. But moths are *highly adaptable*, and you can find
numerous examples of camouflage and mimicing. What I am saying is that the
facts do not support the emergence of a wild population of european honey
bees in the US that is resistant to varroa in such a short time. Bear in
mind, too, that the varroa are evolving and a less virulent type may arise
that *does not kill its host*.

I. G.

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