> If clothianidin had a serious effect, one would expect to see it in the bees placed on canola in Canada.

Actually, beekeepers in Western Canada have increasingly been suffering greater than usual -- in many cases, crippling -- losses over the past several years.  

Both varroa and nosema have been identified and associated with this change.  As a result, more thorough treatments and lower thresholds for varroa have been recommended and everyone is using fumagillan.  Previously, somewhat higher varroa seemed to be tolerated and fumagillan use was an exception.

Medhat has a series of slides documenting progress in managing the problem by knocking mites back close to zero and by adopting universal fumagillan use.  We are seeing some progress, but the jury is still out.

We'll see if we can get back down to historical losses, but if, in fact, pesticides in the fields are exacerbating the problem, we may never get there.

Thanks for that insight.  This should be interesting.

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