A paper presented at this year's ABRC suggests that pollen from
drought-stressed plants may be far less nutritious to bees, since it
markedly decreased the survivorship of caged bees.

Hi Randy
Thanks for keeping us up to date on the research. Actually, the link between pollen quality and environment is well established as I realized after a quick look at: Schlichting, Carl D. "Environmental stress reduces pollen quality in Phlox: compounding the fitness deficit." In Biotechnology and ecology of pollen, pp. 483-488. Springer New York, 1986.

So, we have known this for 30 years (the proverbial "we" -- not including me). But to link a specific weather condition with specific pollen quality leading to specific symptoms in colonies, that might be more difficult. Anyway, it appears that with pollen: better is better.

PLB

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