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Subject:	Re: Chronic sublethal stress causes bee colony failure.
From:	randy oliver <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:	Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:	Tue, 12 Nov 2013 08:26:37 -0800
Content-Type:	text/plain
Parts/Attachments:	text/plain (28 lines)

>I don't think that 20 bumble bees in a box can be used to represent a
colony of bees

The bumblebee "colonies" used in the experiment started with as few as 2
(two) individuals.  The largest colony began with 16.

> Because all colonies (apart from mortality rates) were placed in
> identical environments, this variation suggests intrinsic sources of colony
> vigour of yet unknown origin.


And this is definitely the case with honey bees, even when started with
colonies founded by sister queens in the same location, and started with
thousands of individuals.  This is why one must really scrutinize findings
based upon the results of any lab trial using small numbers of tiny
colonies.


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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