Cobey: Genetic Diversity Critical to Maintaining Colony Fitness

UC Davis Bee Researcher Enhancing Honey Bee Stock to Help Troubled Industry
Western Farm Press, 10/13/2008

…An enhanced-line honey bee stock developed by University of California, Davis Bee Breeder-Geneticist Susan Cobey, that crosses her bee line “New World Carnolians” with “Old World” Carnolians from Germany, shows genetic promise in aiding the troubled bee industry, research reveals.

“I'm really pleased with the stock,” said Cobey, project leader of a honey bee stock improvement grant, funded by the California State Beekeepers’ Association and the California Almond Board. “The bees are very gentle, very hygienic and very productive, and hopefully will confer increased resistance to pests and disease.”…

“Our focus,” Cobey said, “is to identify, select, and enhance honey bee stocks that show increasing levels of resistant to pests and diseases.”…

Cobey said genetic diversity, the raw tools for selection, is critical “in maintaining colony fitness and resisting pests and diseases.” The honey bee (Apis mellifera), initially brought from Europe to America in 1622 and to California in 1853, is declining in population. Mussen and Cobey attribute the decline to multiple factors: diseases, pesticides, parasites, malnutrition, stress, climate change, and colony collapse disorder, in which bees mysteriously abandon their hives…