Alexander J McMenamin and Elke Genersch nail it here:
> Often when talking about colony losses, this general phenomenon is conflated with CCD. However, CCD has a very specific case definition and is mainly characterized by the presence of a live queen and a lot of capped brood, indicative of rapid loss of adult bees. Additionally, the absence of dead bees in collapsed colonies and increased pathogen incidence are diagnostic of CCD. CCD sensu stricto has so far only been reported from North America where it has been identified as one of many causes of winter mortality and likely arises from multiple etiological agents.
> It is worth noting that the death of a honey bee colony due to natural causes, including disease, is within the scope of reasonable expectations for a living organism. However, reoccurring unusually high winter colony losses at or above 30% in the recent past startled beekeepers and scientists alike, in part because simple, causal relationships remained elusive. The picture that emerged over the last decade is that such losses are multifactorial with weak Fall condition, starvation, queen failure, pathogens, parasites, pesticides, and climate all playing a role.
McMenamin, A. J., & Genersch, E. (2015). Honey bee colony losses and associated viruses. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 8, 121-129.
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On the other side, Kelly Watson and J. Anthony Stallins completely muddy the water with a confused 15 page exposition:
Honey bee research was never a high priority in agriculture, but with the emergence of CCD, many research labs and funding agencies began to expand in that direction. Addressing CCD and honey bee decline has become the goal of a large number of individuals and organizations with very diverse social, political, and economic perspectives and policy agendas.
Since 2006, CCD has left beekeepers in the USA facing annual honey bee mortality rates averaging 30 percent with some individual beekeepers reporting higher losses. Other countries in Europe and in Canada have reported similar declines ...
In the last decade, the causes of CCD have clustered around two agents. Neonicotinoids have been shown to have unanticipated negative impacts on honey bees ... Another driving cause of CCD has been the eutrophication of floral resources associated with anthropogenic land cover ...
Watson, K., & Stallins, J. A. (2016). Honey Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder: A Pluralistic Reframing. Geography Compass, 10(5), 222-236.
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Here you have the stark contrast of the understanding of CCD sensu stricto vs CCD ad absurdum.
Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. (Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one.)
PLB
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