North Dakota would seem to provide us with a dramatic example
of potential exposure to neonic tainted nectar because that state has
the largest acreage of sunflowers and canola
http://scenicdakotas.com/northdakota/linton/sunflower-field.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3290/2651387012_d523a95988_z.jpg
that are grown mostly from neonic treated seed (over two million 
acres total).

Yet annual honeybee colony losses in North Dakota are NOT
higher than average (see citation below):
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae78/18R-C/losses.jpg

The Canadian provinces just north and west of North Dakota also
have large acreages of Canola
http://www.ciaprochef.com/canola/images/layout/canola-map.jpg
yet no unusual bee loses that I am aware of.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

A national survey of managed honey bee 2010-11winter colony losses
in the USA: results from the Bee Informed Partnership Dennis vanEngelsdorp,
Dewey Caron, Jerry Hayes, Robyn Underwood, Mark Henson, Karen
Rennich, Angela Spleen, Michael Andree, Robert Snyder, Kathleen Lee,
Karen Roccasecca, Michael Wilson, James Wilkes, Eugene Lengerich,
Jeffery Pettis, for the Bee Informed Partnership Journal of Apicultural
Research 51(1): 115-124 (2012) © IBRA 2012 DOI 10.3896/IBRA.1.51.1.14

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