Comparative Analysis of Differentiation of the Albanian Bee Population Made by the Wings Traits and Other Morphological Traits

Abstract

This study treats a comparative analysis of local differentiation of Albanian bee population according to 12 front wing traits and 18 other traits. To conduct this study, were used evaluations for the averages of these morphological traits measured in 3600 honey bees, in 60 different regions, scattered in all the place territory. The measurement of 30 traits was done using Scan Photo Technique (SPT). Local differentiation that was obtained in Albanian bee population by its front wing traits is not great. This differentiation does not explain by the phenomenon of isolation in distance. Human interventions in the bee population, made over the past fifteen years have brought significant changes in the morphological variations of the morphological traits. By increasing the number of morphological traits was best evidenced the local differentiation of Albanian bee. Populations were approximately grouped in three groups according to climatic zones: subpopulations group in the north east region; the subpopulations group in the field coastal area and the subpopulations group in central and east Albania. Such a differentiation of our bee population can be a consequence of the phenomena of “differentiation in distance” or the effects of genes exchanges.