>Deputate versus degrade


Let's go back to my post about chemicals in hives.

Depuration of a chemical or chemicals from the hive refers to the process
of making or becoming free of impurities.  That's the critical question
that we examine in our research.  How quickly does a hive become
contaminanted and how long does the cleansing take?  Depuration occurs
because of multiple factors: partitioning of the chemical into other hive
components, replacement of old wax with new, dilution, 'excretion' - old
bees ingest or adsorb some of the chemical, die, are removed from the hive
or never make it back, etc.

Degrade implies 'breaks down'.  For example, pesticides applied to crops
break down into other chemicals or into forms that hopefully are less
toxic.  Hence, from DDT you get DDE and DDD, etc.

Degradation is one aspect of depuration.  Degradation may or may not
contribute to cleansing of the hive of impurities - all depends on what the
final or resultant chemicals might be.

Jerry

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