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In this thesis: the biodiversity of the local honeybee breed of Apis mellifera intermissa was analyzed for the first
time in Algeria by using modern morphometric technics based essentially on the configuration of landmarks
that are part of the geometric morphometrics. This allows making synthesis, at the desired accuracy level, of
the geometry of an object, among other things, living organisms such as insects. It has a precise and rigorous
mathematical basis which guarantees robust statistics. The main aim is to study and quantify the wing shapes
variability (shapes + centroid sizes) of the regional populations of bees or the Tellian bee ecotypes. A total of
3.400 worker bees of A. m. intermissa was collected from hived colonies throughout the northern parts of
Algeria, between 35°19’N-37°01’N and 00°54’W-8°06’E. Results showed a clear differentiation, mainly
between the bees’ population or ecotypes belonging to three different ecological regions from floral and
climatic point of view. Several fields of multivariate statistical analyses have been carried out.
For all the 6.580 studied wings, the recorded wing forms differences involve mostly the shape parameters of
the AA and AP, while wing size contribution is generally weak. Indeed, bee populations present important
differences in terms of their wing geometry. Within ecological regions, shape variability between apiaries and
colonies does not appear related either to the geographic location or to altitude. The large variability observed
at the colony and apiary levels can possibly be related to anthropogenic introductions or exchanges between
beekeepers. The wing shape variability seems very structured. It was also concluded that both drift and
polyandry are the most probable explanations for wing shape variability. The neighbor-joining trees of
Mahalanobis distances D² have clearly underlined the absence of geographical differentiation of colonies
within each of the three regions.
At the regional level and for bee populations, the large differences calculated by the generalized variances,
highlighted the wing forms heterogeneity at the intra-colonial and intra-apiary level. The visualization of wing
deformations has shown shapes differences, which exist between the NE, NC and NO ecological zones and
that affecting all wing cells.

Finally, phenotypic differences between ecological regions probably result from restrictions to gene flow
between their respective populations, in other words, a genetic divergence that would result from limited gene
flows between regions and large gene flows within. Nevertheless, the relative contributions of local adaptations
to environmental factors and to beekeeping remain to be established.


shape, size, wings, wing venation, ecotypes.

Item Type	Thesis
Divisions
ePrint ID	616
Date Deposited	2016-11-18
Further Information	Google Scholar
URI	https://univ-soukahras.dz/en/publication/article/616

@phdthesis{uniusa616,
    title={Analyse de la Biodiversité des Populations d'Abeilles Mellifères Apis mellifera intermissa (Buttel-Reepen, 1906) (Hymenoptera : Apidea) dans le Nord Algérien : Morphométrie Moderne Basée sur la Configuration des Points- Repères (Landmarks).},
    author={Choukri BAROUR},
    year={2012},
    school={Université Badji Mokhtar d'Annaba}
}