> Would that even half of all that money might be used to fund research...
Thanks for the update, James!
Regarding money spent, however, it appears that there is a serious bias toward finding situations and combinations where pesticides can be harmful to bees. Nobody seems at all interested in assessing the effect on bee colonies in field realistic situations.
With the exception of studies like that done by Jody Johnson, where she put actual hives into the NYC environment to discover the impact of imidacloprid which was being used to control Asian Longhorn Beetle. And the BeeInformed surveys, which were there regional trends in honey bee decline, say in the midwest, they would be readily apparent.
Whereas, bees seem to be doing poorly all over the country, and perhaps Canada (still waiting for the data). Which would tend to indicate something pathogenic rather than environmentally mediated.
Personally, I have always thought that the symptoms of colony collapse matched a viral infection. The fact that no new virus has been unequivocably linked to the malaise makes me think that either several viruses are working in concert and/or the viruses have increased in virulence.
This concept is supported by the observation that so-called Idiopathic Brood Disorder appears to have a life of its own, de-linked from varroa. In other words, varroa control was not enough to save them. On the other hand, I have spoke to several beekeepers whose aggressive control of varroa resulted close to average winter losses.
Unfortunately, the average appears around 35%. I did not adequately control varroa and lost 25% in the fall and 50% over winter, which matches the average for sideliners. By the way, I nuked the remaining colonies, like Allen described and restored my numbers. Now we are beset with continual rain.
PLB
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