The Darwin Cure for Apiculture?
The Darwin cure for apiculture? Natural selection and managed honey bee health Peter Neumann (1) , Tjeerd Blacquière (2) (1) Institute of Bee Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (2) Bees@wur, Bio-interactions and Plant Health, Wageningen UR, Wageningen, The Netherlands E-mail: peter.neumann@vetsuisse.unibe.ch; tjeerd.blacquiere@wur.nl Running head: Natural selection and managed honey bee health Abstract Recent major losses of managed honey bee, Apis mellifera, colonies at a global scale have resulted in a multitude of research efforts to identify the underlying mechanisms. Numerous factors acting singly and/or in combination have been identifie, ranging from pathogens, over nutrition to pesticides. However, the role of apiculture in limiting natural selection has largely been ignored. This is unfortunate, because honey bees...