BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 26 Dec 2018 14:51:20 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (15 lines)
> If you want to run a trial to test a hypothesis, then you need to hold all variables equal, other than the variable that is being tested--in this case stock of origin.

I worked for nearly a decade at Cornell's Bee Lab and what you describe is the conventional approach to running experiments with bees. However, we also ran field trials using commercial beekeeper hives. 

What I learned was that no amount of equalizing is effective, as each colony is an individual. Within weeks they are all over the map. This makes it very difficult to tease out subtle effects; the phenomenon of "signal to noise ratio."

On the other hand, with field trials, if a particular queen source had a profound effect on wintering, one would expect to see this effect across multiple colonies. If there is no profound effect, is it worth anything?

Pete B

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

ATOM RSS1 RSS2