Here's good article if you think artificial sugars should not be fed to honeybees like I do!! The article talks about both bumblebees and honeybees.

"Moreover, the sugar water group had a virtually undetectable amount of the
protective gut bacteria, indicating that the acquisition of this essential
'cocktail' comes solely through social interaction."

A good read if you are interested:
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4972/bee-sociality-defends-against-deadly-parasites?page=0%2C0


Also would like to point out the following paragraph I found very interesting, and more there too, for reading if interested, for seems to relate to possible CCD?..... connections and bees dying some here on BEE-L might find highly interesting!
    
"Man-made chemicals are increasingly abundant in the bee's environment," said Mark Brown, and evolutionary ecologist at Royal Holloway at the University of London. "While these chemicals are tested for their lethal effects (that is, whether they cause mortality), sub-lethal effects are rarely examined," he said.

"If these chemicals, at sub-lethal dosages, damage the gut flora of the bees, this would make them more susceptible to parasites, which could in turn lead to the decline of bee populations. The gut flora may be an important nexus for factors that, together, may lie behind the declines of bee populations," said Brown.

Dee A. Lusby

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