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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 9 Jan 2016 19:52:46 -0500
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> In the results section the authors talk about the model predictions. What are the thoughts about the quality of the developed model?

* The answer to this is: models may be state of the art but they are notoriously unreliable. Garbage in=garbage out. They are barely adequate to predict the weather 3 days in advance.

> In the discussion section they identify areas of uncertainty and caveats. I counted 7 of these. How significant are these to the validity of the study?

* They make quite a bit of the "uncertainty," trying to make us comfortable with their proper respect for it. They state:

> Although our approach carefully captured expert uncertainty, three other sources of uncertainty arise from the data themselves. ... Because we focus on analyses of relative demand among crops and counties, our findings are likely robust to this uncertainty.

* Am I the only one that thinks that "robust to this uncertainty" is a ridiculous phrase?

>Does anyone know any of the experts to vouch for their credibility or authority?

* They didn't do us any favors by not giving their names and qualifications. It took me quite a while to compile the following list. (Some of the information may not be current.) More than a few are connected with Xerces which is notoriously biased in favor of native invertebrates vs. agriculture and non-natives.

James H. Cane, Research Entomologist, USDA ARS  (2015)
Cane, J. H. (2015). Gardening and Landscaping Practices for Nesting Native Bees.

Dr Juan Manuel Zaldivar Cruz, Colegio de Postgraduados Campus Tabasco. 
Cruz, J. M. Z. (2015). Aspectos a valorar dentro de la bioeconomía y su sendero de eco–intensificación para el buen desempeño de la actividad apícola ante la variabilidad de la Actividad Solar y Geomagnética y los cambios climáticos. Revista Iberoamericana de Bioeconomia y Cambio Climático., 1(1), 207-222.

Elaine C Evans, PhD Candidate Research Asst. UMN Twin Cities (From 2007 to 2010, she worked for Xerces)
Mader, E., Spivak, M., & Evans, E. (2009). Managing Alternative Pollinators.

Kelly A Gill, Xerces Pollinator Conservation Specialist – Northeast / Mid-Atlantic Region
Gill, K. A., & O’Neal, M. E. (2015). Survey of Soybean Insect Pollinators: Community Identification and Sampling Method Analysis. Environmental Entomology, nvv001.

Tina Harrison, Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, Rutgers University
Harrison, T., & Winfree, R. (2015). Urban drivers of plant‐pollinator interactions. Functional Ecology.

Jennifer Hopwood, Xerces Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Midwest
Hopwood, J., et al. (2015). LITERATURE REVIEW: POLLINATOR HABITAT ENHANCEMENT AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN HIGHWAY RIGHTS-OF-WAY.

Hillary Sardiñas,  PhD candidate. University of California, Berkeley.
Sardiñas, Hillary S., and Claire Kremen. "Pollination services from field-scale agricultural diversification may be context-dependent." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 207 (2015): 17-25.

Cory A Stanley-Stahr, PhD Post-doctoral Researcher
Stanley, C. A., and T. L. Pitts-Singer. 2011. Attraction to old nest cues during nest selection by the solitary bee Megachile rotundata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). J. Apic. Res. 50(3): 227-234. DOI: 10.3896/IBRA.1.50.3.07

Mace Vaughan. Xerces Pollinator Program Co-Director
Vaughan, M., et al. (2014). Overview of Non‐Apis Bees. Pesticide Risk Assessment for Pollinators, 5-18.

Michael Veit, science teacher, Lawrence Academy, Massachusets
Colla, S. R., et al. (2012). Documenting persistence of most eastern North American bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) to 1990-2009. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 85(1), 14-22.

J. Hemberger ???

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