Hear that buzz?<\/p>\n
The long-awaited update of the landmark UC Davis-authored book,\u00a0Queen Bee Rearing and Bee Breeding<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.\u00a0(1907-2003), \u201cthe father of bee genetics,\u201d \u00a0and his former doctoral research mentee\u00a0Robert E. Page Jr., now an internationally known bee geneticist, is about to be published.<\/p>\n Wicwas\u00a0Press of Kalamazoo,\u00a0Mich., published the landmark book in 1996 and now will publish the updated book,\u00a0Honey Bee Genetics and Breeding,\u00a0<\/em>written by Page and dedicated to Professor Laidlaw.<\/p>\n \u201cThis book is long overdue,\u201d said Page, whose career took him from doctoral student to professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology to provost of Arizona State University. \u201cAlthough it isn\u2019t actually a revision of\u00a0Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding<\/em>\u00a0that I wrote with Harry Laidlaw 25 years ago, it does bring that book up-to-date with respect to genetics and breeding.\u00a0 And there is still a lot of Harry in it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Laidlaw-Page\u00a0book was \u201cfor beekeepers who know little about genetics, and geneticists who know little about beekeeping.\u201d<\/p>\n Page said he never expected\u00a0Wicwas\u00a0Press would still be selling the inaugural book nearly 30 years later.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHarry used to remind me frequently that a revision was needed, we intended to do it, but he passed September 19, 2003, at the age of 96. I considered revising the book many times, but life got in the way, and I struggled with what more I could say about queen rearing.\u201d<\/p>\n Reviewers hail the 182-page book as \u201cprobably the best reference for learning about bee breeding theory and practice and the history of honey bee genetics.\u201d\u00a0Page offers examples of both successful and unsuccessful bee breeding programs.<\/p>\n The chapters include \u201cPrinciples of Inheritance,\u201d \u201cMechanisms of Inheritance,\u201d \u201cPrinciples of Breeding,\u201d \u201cDisease Resistance,\u201d \u201cDefensive Behavior\u201d and \u201cHoney Production.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fundamentals of queen rearing have been with us since G.M. Doolittle\u2019s book\u00a0Scientific Queen Rearing<\/em>\u00a0first published in 1889,\u201d Page related. \u201cMethods have evolved through a process of natural selection with different queen producers developing their own specific modifications that get passed on, shared, and adopted or rejected by others until we have the practices used by queen producers today. But still, they are not far from the fundamentals of Doolittle.\u201d<\/p>\n Page noted, however, that \u201cour understanding of the genetic basis of inheritance and the development of genetic tools for exploring the genetic architectures of honey bee traits has undergone a major transformation since 1996. The biggest leap in honey bee genetics came with the sequencing of the honey bee genome, published in 2006, an enormous international effort to assemble 240 million base pairs (building blocks of DNA) that contain about 10,000 genes.\u201d \u00a0Gene Robinson\u00a0of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, spearheaded that effort.<\/p>\n \u201cColony and individual traits are now routinely explored by genetic mapping, facilitating the identification of associated genes whose expression may be altered, thus enabling the investigation of their effects,\u201d Page writes in his book. \u201cWe are on the cusp of the next great transformations: (1) the use of gene sequence information to reliably identify specific genes and enhance classical selection for economically important traits, and (2) the ability to transform genes, by editing them, into more favorable forms that may affect behavior and\/or disease resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 1996, the main emphasis of bee breeding \u201chas shifted from increasing honey production and reducing defensive behavior to controlling diseases,\u201d Page wrote. \u201cThe increasing apicultural problems presented by varroa mites and their associated diseases puts pressure on bee breeders to find solutions through genetic stock improvement to reduce the use of chemical treatments in hives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe purity of honey is paramount in the perception of the public,\u201d Page shared. \u201cWe must do all we can to preserve that. The tremendous worldwide effort to breed varroa resistance mechanisms into commercial honey bees has had only limited success, so far. But much has been learned about honey bee genetics and breeding, varroa biology and potential mechanisms of resistance in honey bees. Hopefully, the new genetic tools being developed will be employed and lead to more success.\u201d<\/p>\n Internationally recognized bee breeder and geneticist\u00a0Susan Cobey, a mentee of Laidlaw, a former manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, \u00a0and a newly retired Washington State University scientist, praises the book as demystifying technical aspects and filling in the knowledge gaps. \u00a0\u201cHoney bee breeding is a lifelong adventure and passion,\u201d she writes in the foreword. \u201cAs a young, idealistic beekeeper venturing into developing a commercial stock, Dr. Harry Laidlaw told me, \u2018You will never be bored by the challenge of selecting the \u2018super\u2019 bee. She doesn\u2019t exist, the journey will be the reward.\u2019\u00a0Four decades later, this has proven true.\u201d<\/p>\n Cobey applied the Page-Laidlaw Closed Population Breeding Program (CPBP) theory to develop and maintain her New World Carniolan line. \u201cThe practicality and simplicity of the program gave it longevity. Many bee breeding programs have now converted to use this breeding scheme, including the USDA Hilo project.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe literature addressing bee genetics, breeding scheme methodologies and assays for selecting desirable traits are scattered in the scientific, research and beekeeping journals,\u201d Cobey wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s like a large puzzle with missing pieces. Finally, in this book, Rob Page covers these subjects clearly, comprehensively, supported by his research with a highly informative and fascinating presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n Page, considered by his peers as \u201cthe most influential honey bee biologist of the past 30 years,\u201d is known for his research on honey bee behavior and population genetics, particularly the evolution of complex social behavior. One of his most salient contributions to science was to construct the first genomic map of the honey bee, which sparked a variety of pioneering contributions not only to insect biology but to genetics at large.<\/p>\n Page pioneered the use of modern techniques to study the genetic basis of social behavior evolution in honey bees and other social insects. He was the first to employ molecular markers to study polyandry and patterns of sperm use in honey bees. He provided the first quantitative demonstration of low genetic relatedness in a highly eusocial species.<\/p>\n For 24 years, from 1989 to 2015, Page maintained a UC Davis honey bee-breeding program, managed by bee breeder-geneticist Kim Fondrk. Their contributions include discovering a link between social behavior and maternal traits in bees. Their work was featured in a cover story in the journal\u00a0Nature<\/em>. In all,\u00a0Nature<\/em>\u00a0featured his work on four covers from work mostly done at UC Davis.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Page is also the author of\u00a0The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution<\/em>\u00a0(Harvard University Press, 2013) and the\u00a0Art of the Bee: Shaping the Environment from Landscapes to Societies<\/em>\u00a0(Oxford University Press, 2020).\u00a0 In 2023, he launched a publicly accessible\u00a0 and free YouTube Channel,\u00a0https:\/\/youtube.com\/@artofthebee<\/a>.<\/p>\n A native of Bakersfield, Page received his doctorate in entomology in 1980 from UC Davis, studying with major professor\u00a0Norman Gary<\/a>\u00a0and Laidlaw, his doctoral research mentor.\u00a0Page \u00a0advanced \u00a0to professor and chair of the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology), serving as the chair from 1999-2004. A second career emerged when Arizona State University (ASU) recruited him in 2004.<\/p>\n Today Page holds the titles of ASU University Provost Emeritus and Regents Professor Emeritus as well as UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Professor and Emeritus Chair of the UC Davis Entomology Department.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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