In the early 1990s,the African honeybee migrated across the Mexican border into the United States.Our domesticated honey bee-originally from Europe-is slow to sting,requires abundant flower nectar,forages later in the morning,does not tolerate subtropical conditions as well as the "Africanized" honey bee,and stores much honey but only produces enough new brood to swarm once a year.Because the European honey bee was performing poorly as a honey producer in South America,the African subspecies had been imported in a breeding experiment.The African honey bee formed small nests,foraged earlier and created more honey using smaller nectar sources,produced less honey stores and more brood,swarmed four or five times a year,and was fast to sting.However,when African queens escaped,the two bee populations interbred and the African genotype spread about 300 kilometers north each year.Unexpectedly,a hundred kilometers behind the expanding range of the African honey bees,the European and hybrid hives died out in subtropical areas and the bees were essentially 100 percent African.How would this be explained in evolutionary genetics terms?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Gene flow is occurring between these subspecies, but the African bee is better adapted to foraging and reproducing in the subtropical conditions, leading to its success in the region. However, the European honeybee is more adapted to temperate areas, which explains why their hives died out in subtropical areas. The African honeybee's traits are not necessarily dominant over the European honeybee's alleles, but rather a result of natural selection and adaptation to the environment. Migration is unlikely to cause the bees to revert back to European traits because the African honeybee has already adapted to the subtropical climate and environmental conditions.

In the Early 1990s,the African Honeybee Migrated Across the Mexican