Here is a suggestion that might make some of the CCD naysayers more comfortable and therefore less likely to create headwinds for those working on CCD.

CCD is defined as a list of macro symptoms, including few or no bees in hive and no robbing.  This symptom list could, and probably does, cover more than one cause.  

I propose that the definition of CCD include the requirement that it happen in warm weather, when the bees can forage and are foraging.

Nearly every year for the past 15 years, I have found winter deadouts in my operation (in NH) where there were very few bees left in the hive.  In more than one year, the losses were over 50%.  I have always thought the cause was mite-related and I still believe that to be the case.   Since mite predation can fully explain baseball-sized colonies in February up north, I invoke Occam's razor to support my contention that trying to blame some new, complex, mysterious cause is a waste of valuable resources.

I believe research efforts should be aimed at warm-weather CCD.  Since I have not experienced that, I will only make one comment, an observation from a bystander.  Over the past few years, researchers have identified new diseases/pathogens (such as Nosema Ceranae) which have explained some situations that were previously characterised by some as CCD.  I think this trend will continue as new diseases/pathogens are identified, and CCD  will remain the unexplained residual, hopefully with progressively tighter definitions.  We all hope that Jerry and other researchers get us to the point where the unexplained residual is small enough to be ignored.

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