Randy says: I find that the author did a good job in this paper,
recognized "anomalous
data" such as Suchail's, and objectively analyzed existing research. As to
his conclusions, read what the author actually says:
Overall, Randy is spot on here. My comments were cautionary - its a
rather small data set to call a 'Meta' analysis. And one can eliminate
anomalous data - but one needs a better justification than hand waving - you can't
just proclaim it anomalous, its critical in a paper like this to clarify
why any data was eliminated.
I also found some disturbing misquotes of papers and some blurring of the
definitions regarding acute/chronic/and sublethal.
HOWEVER, like Randy, as I stated earlier, this paper had nothing to do with
CCD. And Randy is correct, one can not pick and choose quotes, removing
them from context, to support your hypothesis, both authors and readers
have to exercise caution.
Like Randy, I agree when Bob and other beekeepers comment that "colonies
are not thriving on intensive agriculture". Whether its neonics, or other
pesticides and poor nutrition is the real question here.
Given the ability to limit contamination with treated seed versus other
methods of application, the low risk to humans of neonics, and the known risks
of alternatives, let's be careful about hasty decisions.
And, not to pick on you, Bob; but you are right, TEMIK is nasty - but as
Randy said, its not a neonic. It is a carbamate, and that is the type
product that I wouldn't want to be forced to go back to.
Finally, virtually all pesticides have sublethal effects - we just haven't
been very good at looking at these. Our own work for the Army has
capitalized on sublethal effects as markers of chemical exposure. BUT, and this
is important, many of these sublethal effects are of short duration -
impaired memory, disorientation, sounds may be altered for a short time in
individual bees.
As an example, bees respond to caffeine and alcohol in much the same ways
as people. A short term effect of a SMALL amount of caffeine - they learn
faster. Too much caffeine, they get agitated, jittery. But, once the
caffeine is metabolized, the bees go back to normal.
Same with alcohol - too much kills bees, just like with people. A small
amount, they get 'buzzed' - sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. More, and
you've got drunk bees. But, then they sober up. With some 'drugs', they
scrub their antenna, and they get 'high'.
The difficult question with sublethal effects - which of these, if any,
threaten the integrity/health of the colony?
With our bee training for landmine detection, we've experimented with both
learning enhancers, and with methods that might be used by an enemy who
would want to covertly disrupt our trained bees. Overall, the inherent
training and long term memory tend to persist over days and weeks, the altered
states of performance tend to be of short duration (seconds, minutes, hours).
So, I believe trials that say that exposure to neonics may impair memory
and learning - just remember, exposure to any nerve agent will do the same.
And, in the short term, some bees that have been exposed to a chemical
that affects memory or orientation may get lost - as seen in tent trials.
However, anyone using tent or 'semi-field' trials have to be aware of a
well known problem - bees tend to go to the light and get trapped in the
corners - trying to get out. Somehow, bumblebee tend to adjust to confinement
in tents, greenhouses, much better than honey bees. With honey bees, we
and others have noticed that older foragers - the field force that has flown
in 'freedom', rarely adjust well to confinement - many beat themselves to
death against the walls and ceilings. There are lots of 'tricks' that can
be used to reduce this wastage of bees, but it takes a lot of experience to
know how to reduce the tent effect - in essence, the tent or greenhouse is
often a primary factor in bee mortality.
But, bees in the field are much different than bees in greenhouses and
tents. I'll bet that in the field, if we were to mark and follow bees
exposed to a pesticide that induces memory loss or disorientation, and assuming
something like a bird or cold weather doesn't remove disorientated or
forgetful bees, my 'guess' - most of the field bees will recover and go home.
Jerry
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