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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Josethayil" data-source="post: 13700" data-attributes="member: 421">When you look at bees in NZ as a whole they have been isolated from other populations for a while other that an few imports such as the Carniolans in 2000's. So when we look at genetic diversity most of our bees will be closely related. We do have some exceptional bee breeders who maintain lines of bees which show certain desirable characters which are added into the general population of bees in NZ. With Varroa wiping out most of the feral bees we have lost some of the diversity we had in those bees but then we also benefited from that as this also meant we were able to select bees for desirable characters better without the interference from feral drones. When we look at bees in NZ now there are still good lines of Italian bees and good lines of Carniolan bees maintained by different breeders with some degree of isolated mating and use of AI techniques. People are able to source queens and cells from them to add into their existing genetics. But most of the bees around are a cross between what was here before the carniolans were brought in and the carniolans. Only takes two generations of free mating to see this in any colony.</blockquote>

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