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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
randy oliver <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 13 May 2010 07:34:38 -0700
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> >Randy, the article does not claim leopard frogs are scarce in the atrazine
> (or nowadays mostly Roundup herbicide) treated corn fields of Illinois.
>

Thanks Paul.  I apologize if I gave that impression.  What we have seen in
my area is the gross leg abnormalities of frogs caused by the fluke.  My
point was simply that pesticide use can have unintended consequences
involving multiple organisms and their parasites, and that this could be
happening with bees and their parasites.

>
>
> >How are Central Valley pesticides, which have been used for 75 years,
> reasonably linked to the RECENT disappearance of the    Mountain
> Yellow-Legged
> Frog in the high altitude lakes and ponds of the Sierra Nevada mountains?
>

Sorry again, Paul.  I wasn't trying to blame the disappearance of my frogs
on pesticides--I was only relating my sadness at the loss of a species.  For
amphibian losses worldwide, the prime suspect appears to be the amphibian
chytrid fungus.  The question then is whether human-caused pollution is
affecting the host/parasite dynamics.

In the case of the Sierran frogs, agricultural dust in the first snow runoff
is suspected.

I did document that the local tree frog continues to survive in the Sierran
pools that I surveyed, but at low levels.  Unfortunately, a salamander also
appeared to have disappeared, and the amphibian-feeding garter snake
population decreased greatly.

Paul, I do not know the causes for the amphibian disappearances, but they
deeply disturb me.
When I find that certain ag chemicals appear to depress insect immune
function, and to disrupt vitellogenin synthesis, I feel that the effects of
such chemicals upon bees should be thoroughly investigated.

Randy Oliver

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