>>According to one of the principles of crop IPM, some economic injury 
>>can be accepted as long as its cost is lower than the cost of control.  



I don't agree we can use these principles for a "living organism"  such as bees.  The IPM mentioned above is really for insect damage in crops.  This is not that,  we cannot calculate the cost per plant (bee)  or the potential output( honey or pollination)  because they are not linier like they are in row crops.

We also cannot accurately asses the risk of infestation.  We know that  low numbers of mites,  with high viral loads,  is still really bad,  and we know that no viral loads tolerates a lot of mites.

Crops deal with a finite life and yield potential.  Not the case with bees.


If IPM could be applied,  would we be wearing mask and social distancing?  Same issue,  its really not practically to assess the risk the same way.






Charles

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