One point that needs to be clarified is that we estimated colony loss in three fixed periods: from October 1st to March 31st, from April 1st to September 30th, and from October 1st of one year, to September 30th of the next year. Following previous published studies [14, 15, 22, 38, 39, 68, 69], we allocated these periods to summer, winter and annual losses, respectively, with distinctions between the North and South hemisphere locations of the countries. 

This method facilitated the comparison of colony loss between LA and other regions of the world (e.g. the United States and Europe). However, it is important to notice that LA includes a large variety of climates and the generalization of the terms “summer” and “winter” could not fit rigorously with the entire region. Part of the LA region could be distinguished between dry or rainy seasons instead of winter or summer periods, although this specificity would limit comparisons across regions. 

Fabrice Requier, et al.

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