>We did find treatment effects for adult bee population in July 2007 and May 2008, in both cases with small cell colonies having significantly more bees (Table 1; Fig. 1). We are uncertain why this occurred. It is possible that a 1 kg package of small cell bees contains more bees than a standard package since bees reared in small cells are significantly smaller than bees raised on standard cells 

One could speculate also that larger bees cover more *ground* and can thermoregulate and feed an equivalent brood area.  It would be interesting to determine the root cause of this difference.

>Both groups exceeded published economic thresholds (*3,000 mites per colony (Delaplane and Hood 1999) by the end of the yearlong study.

Am I right in interpreting that the total number of mites per colony was about the same for SC and the controls?  In that case, the number of mites per 100 bees was smaller in SC since there were more bees. 

Sorry.  I like to ask questions to better understand.

Waldemar

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