ABSTRACT
The many problems that currently face the U.S. honey bee population has underscored the need for sufficient genetic diversity at the colony, breeding, and population levels. Genetic diversity has been reduced by three distinct bottleneck events, namely the limited historical importation of subspecies and queens, the selection pressure of parasites and pathogens (particularly parasitic mites), and the consolidated commercial queen-production practices that have reduced the number of queen mothers in the breeding population. We explore the history and potential consequences of reduced population-wide genetic diversity, and we review the past and current status of the reproductive quality of commercially produced queens. We conclude that while queen quality is not drastically diminished from historical levels, the current perceived problems of “poor queens”can be significantly improved by addressing the ongoing genetic bottlenecks in our breeding systems and increasing the overall genetic diversity of the honey bee population.
