Gavin  You said "Jerry expressed the view that Whitehorn and  colleagues 
should have measured the levels in their prepared samples as it is  hard to 
get it right.  OK, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt for  now."
 
Overall, I don't have a major problem with this study, except that without  
verification of dose and without a balanced literature review (we're  
taught not to cherry pick the literature to support our biases), this  is  NOT a 
mature paper, appropriate for Science (by Science's own guidelines).  
 
You yourself said it would be nice to have the data in an Open Source  
journal - and I agree, the study is what it is, but its in the wrong  journal.  
 
Also, I've worked with bumblebee colonies, and know that this is  a highly 
variable system in terms of population size and weight gain.   There is also 
recent work that indicates that the number of new queens produced  by a 
bumblebee colony unpredictable and governed by multiple processes and  factors 
that are poorly understood.  I haven't had a time to go through the  numbers 
to see if I agree or disagree with the conclusions of the Whitehorn  
authors - I'm on travel, working with a team on a project we have to finish  by 
next Thursday.  Then I'll be able to find some time to give this paper a  more 
thorough review.  
 
Jerry
 
 
 

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