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Subject:
From:
João Campos <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:22:16 -0500
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Drone rearing is often recommended in the literature, but, according to 
some authors, it is, at best, controversial. Due to the potential 
inbreeding problems, like male diploidy, the honey bee developed mechanisms 
to avoid matings between relatives, or to lower the probability of such. 

I didn't read the article, but an example can be seen here: <http://www-
cgi.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/Biologie/IUSSI/abstract.pdf>, which 
contains an interesting abstract of a paper from Koeniger et al. about this 
issue. A little quotation:

[When offered two DCAs] "Queens preferred the more distant DCA, whereas 
drones preferred the nearest DCA. The choice of mating site (DCA) between 
queens and drones were significantly different. Thus sex specific 
differences in choice of mating site contribute to avoidance of incest in 
Apis mellifera."

So, unless you rear queens in an isolated area, maybe your efforts to 
saturate the local area with "good" drones will be of no real use after 
all. 

Or does anybody have an evidence to the contrary?

Best Regards,

Joćo Campos

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