A snip from Randy Oliver's link..
1.7 Hypothesis
Within this thesis, the hypothesis to be tested is whether the occurrence and levels of infection of different pathogens and infestation of parasites in free-foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera) are affected by the exposure to the neonicotinoid clothianidin during the oilseed rape (B. napus) flowering period, as delivered systemically through seed coat dressing. The null-hypothesis is that there is no effect of clothianidin exposure on the prevalence and loads of parasites and pathogens in free-foraging honeybees.

My comments..
First thanks for the link Randy.  

Secondly it is nice to see the hypothesis and null hypothesis so clearly stated.  IF I can recall the proper 'scientific' logic here the idea is to 'disprove the null hypothesis' and thereby add more weight to the hypothesis < any science folks on board do feel free to correct me here since my graduate school statistics classes are aged 30+ years.  

Third... the study seems to be about the effect of neo nice exposure on the pest, pathogens and diseases of bees and not necessarily the bees (or the bee hive).

Finally... it seem several thread are intertwining here but it does seem this one also suggest the level of direct exposure to neo-nics is much greater than at first thought.   For practicing beekeepers like myself the real question is.... what are the health condition of these hives 6 months down the road after constant exposure to neo nics?  Unexpectedly on another thread I suspect Randy Oliver has also pointed us to an answer to that question.

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