In a message dated 17/04/2007 04:10:42 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
How many AHB have been effected by CCD? ...........You have any idea?
None of my own but I'm just drawing together a few threads of other people's
work.
Tom Seeley in Honeybee Ecology describes how, left alone and given
availability of suitable nest sites bees tend to distance their colonies about half a
mile from each other (although we can all think of examples where they have
not). I was wondering whether AHB are any different in this respect from the
bees in the forests of New York State where Seeley conducted his studies (I
hope to see him tonight and if I get a chance may ask him).
Leslie Bailey in lectures delivered in 1984 (The Effect on the Number of
Honey Bee Colonies on their Honey Yields and Diseases) and 1986 (Bee-keeping by
Numbers) ie before varroa, explored through statistical analysis what happens
when honeybees are out of equilibrium with their natural food supply. In
summary there are greater periods when there are a lot of unemployed foragers
rubbing shoulders and this was the condition under which certain diseases were
best spread, notably Chronic Paralysis Virus.
Norman Carreck would be able to tell us a lot more and I think he controls
the copyright of Bailey's lectures!
Chris
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