>Randy, hate to put you on the spot, but what makes you suspect that the
contamination was due to overblown dust as apposed to uptake from the soil?

Good question, Mike!  Answer, because the authors themselves suggest the
possibility:

"dandelion flowers obtained from the fields closest to the affected
apiary...contained clothianidin, therefore clothianidin in/on the
dandelions could have resulted from translocation from the soil to
the flower, from surface contamination of the flowers from dust, or
a combination of these two mechanisms. Dandelion flowers
growing far from agricultural areas served as controls; no
neonicotinoids were detected."

The dandelion samples were taken from fields adjacent to freshly-seeded
maize fields, clearly exposed to planting dust under dry conditions.  The
flowers contained thiamethoxam and the fungicides used in seed treatments,
which wouldn't be expected if the residues were translocated from the soil
from the previous year's planting.

So, I feel that there are compelling reasons to suspect that the residues
were from planting dust.  I'm not sure why folk are asking me--the paper is
a free download!   Read it yourself and decide!

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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