Bob
 
The equipment is still pricey.  I've run 50 continuously recording  
colonies for 5 years on the east coast.  Problem with getting USDA to fund,  or 
even most of the foundations, etc. - this is very basic research; they tend  to 
put their money  into applied research like how to control varroa.  
 
I've been looking at these posts.  I'm not sure that there is an  answer to 
Joe's original question.  I do have some data that  pertains.  In one 
year's trials, where I had colonies at sites exposed to  toxic metals from a 
smelter - apiaries at several distances downwind from the  smokestack, we had 
our control apiaries at the farthest distance.
 
We also had a severe drought.  The colonies exposed to the  highest levels 
of toxic metals lost brood, and eventually tended to switch to  nectar 
harvesting, since brood levels and need for pollen decreased. 
 
The really interesting results were with the controls, that got an extra  
stress from the drought - the irrigation district shut off the water to 
alfalfa  fields.  Those colonies conserved their food stores by adjusting the 
amount  of brood in each hive.  Unlike the 'smelter' yards, where brood was 
killed,  the remaining brood at the control apiary was healthy, but it appeared 
that  there was a reduction of the amount of brood in each hive via a 
combination  of reduced egg-laying plus some removal of brood.  It appeared that 
the  colonies somehow anticipated the consequences of continued brood 
rearing in the  face of reduced forage and adjusted accordingly to keep the bee 
population  levels small enough to avoid starvation.
 
Jerry

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