>>What exactly would constitute a sub lethal effect that would be
observable and identifiable as such?

I don't have a straightforward answer but would like to share an experience from last Friday.  I removed a colony from a 4th floor apartment in Brooklyn, NY.  The colony had been at this location for 3 years.  According to the owner, the colony was sprayed a few times last year and again in May of this year.

I was called in to remove the colony because ''the exterminator could not kill it."  I removed about 4 pounds of bees and about 60-70 lbs of [useless] honey comb.  I caught the queen but there were no larvae or eggs.  In total, about 100 sq inches of emerging and capped brood.  The queen did not look like a virgin and I assumed the chems made her sterile.

Re. sublethals, this colony was still strong but evidently in a declining state.  Sublethal effect are present in individual bees and in colonies.  I'd think it would be easier to set up for and measure in individual bees in terms of their expected lifespan after exposure.  Colonies vary too substantially to measure against controls.  The other dilema is that colonies, if they can, will raise additional brood to compensate for artificially reduced lifespan.

Waldemar

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