Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/473131
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER MARCH 15, 2015 37 W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e University honeybee geneticists Dr. Susan Cobey and Dr. Steve Sheppard traveled to the Republic of Georgia, on Russia's southwest border, last summer and collected commercially significant quan- tities of semen from the Caucasian bee Apis mellifera caucasica. They collected only semen so as to avoid a U.S. ban on bee importation imposed in 1922. Their goal is to increase adaptive traits in the American honeybee gene pool to help address environmen- tal stressors that may be contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other problems. Myriad causes of CCD have been sug- gested, including chemicals, radiation from electronics, pests, pathogens, or a combination of factors. Of course, bees work in environments much transformed over the past century. Thus, the majority of bee researchers focus on mitigating the WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY WSU bee geneticist Sue Cobey displays an array of virgin American honeybee queens. environmental changes challenging bees. Innovative beekeepers and the WSU bee researchers are taking different approaches. "Bees are agriculture's canary in a coal mine," said Trevor Tauzer, a Central California commercial beekeeper. "When Colony Collapse Disorder started hap- pening, we took steps to keep our bees healthy." Across the country beekeepers have adopted similar practices, including rotat- ing hives to allow bees to forage beyond single crops and reduce their fatigue. But many large-scale commercial beekeeping operations across the coun- try, hard-pressed by vastly increasing demand, especially during California's almond bloom, cannot afford to take their bees out of circulation. Thus the WSU researchers' bee semen collecting trip to