African American Bees

The main objective of the laboratory was to identity different species of honeybees based on their physical and genetic attributes. Due to the invasion of African honeybees in North America, hybridization has increased between African and European honeybees. The hypothesis is that the four unknown bees are hybridized with a European mother and an African father. The wing-lengths of European, African, and unknown bees were measured, and the mtDNA of eight different bees were subjected to gel electrophoresis. The results showed that African bees were small with one band of mtDNA, European bees were large with two bands of mtDNA, and the unknown bees were of various sizes with two bands of mtDNA. The hypothesis was supported due to the unknown …show more content…
Therefore, the hybridization of European and African bees became common as African bees progressed to places once inhabited by European bees (Ellis and Ellis 2012). Hybridization may happen in a number of ways. African bees may take over European colonies (Ellis and Ellis 2012). A swarm of African bees with a queen may slowly integrate themselves into a European hive (Ellis and Ellis 2012). Once they establish themselves as part of the colony, the African queen may replace the European queen (Ellis and Ellis 2012). African colonies also generate a greater number of drones than European colonies (Ellis and Ellis 2012). If there are both African and European hives in the same area then when the time comes for a European queen to mate, the odds of her mating with an African drone are higher than her mating with a European drone (Ellis and Ellis 2012). Hybridized queens develop faster than European queens due to their African heritage (Ellis and Ellis 2012). When these hybridized queens hatch, they will destroy any un-hatched European queens (Ellis and Ellis 2012). Then when these hybridized queens are mature they will most likely mate with African drones (Ellis and Ellis 2012). Over time, this may result in the hive being almost completely hybridized. Hybridized bees have more African traits than European traits, as African traits are more dominant (Ellis and Ellis