Dr. Caron CCD and Africanized honey bees

Dr. Caron's discussion of colony collapse and Africanized honey bees on Thursday was fascinating. I won't go into all the details, but Lorraine has a video of the presentation for anyone who is interested in seeing it. For me there were a few bits of info that were particularly compelling.

1. There really is very little interbreeding between the African bees and European bees. Instead the African bees are simply out competing the European bees for resources. The European bees are starved out, and the African bees become the dominant species. 
2. African bees have few if any problems with mites or with colony collapse because of a different brood cycle.
3. African bees become gentler in more temperate climates, so they have potential within beekeeping, but would require some changes in management strategy.

Kev