On 16 Jun 2003 at 1:29, James Fischer wrote:

> The pattern of infestation on the East coast of the USA
> deserves special attention.  Compared the infested areas
> with the paths of Interstate Highways 95, 77, 26, and so on.

     While the maps can give some clues, they cannot be
simplistically interpreted. There are lots of additional details to
check.

1.  Inspectors may not be looking. Or may not recognize the beetle
when they see it. This is, of course not the case with the South
Carolina counties....

2.  Inspectors may not WANT to see them.  (OK cheap shot, and
unlikely most places.)

3.  Beetles may be present but not thriving. This is the biggie in
many areas. You can find an occasional beetle, but rarely see
them, unless you are specifically focusing on their hiding spots.
Some geographical factor (perhaps soil type) limits their
population.

4.  Presence of source of high pressure. You know that when you
lose a hive that is eaten out by wax worms, the remaining hives will
have a lot of moths trying to lay eggs. Hives that can drive out an
occasional moth, may not be able to stop every one when
thousands are trying to get in. Same for beetles. One badly
infested hive that collapses can throw off a LOT of beetles to go
after others in the area. And beekeepers have learned NEVER to
put a super of honey from a beetle-attacked hive onto a strong hive
to "clean it up" as you might do with a beginning attack by wax
moths. It simply overwhelms them. This is why someone who
doesn't know what he's doing can spread a lot lot of beetles. Yeah,
even the guy with two hives....

5.  Many more variables. Why does one hobby beekeeper near the
farmers market tell me the "beetles are eating him up," while others
in the area regard them as a minor problem?  Why does the
population get high one year and virtually disappear the next?

    A friend of mine had the beetles for three years (and lost a lot of
hives) before he found out what it was. He seems to be in an area
where the beetles thrive. He has NO migratories in his area. But
the beetles freely fly from one apiary to another.

    Jim, I respect you as a highly intelligent guy. But your insistance
on such simplistic interpretation of questionable maps gives me the
strong impression that your conclusion was made before you saw
the data, and continues to be made despite additional data....

   I know a lot of hobby beekeepers and a lot of commercial
beekeepers. While I respect and enjoy relationships with both, I
find the commercial guys (the awful migratories) to be much more
careful about diseases and parasites than the average hobbyist.
This is their livelihood. The days when they could be careless are
over. The ones that were careless are mostly gone. Let's dispense
with the the seemingly built-in bias against a group that simply is
trying to do what we all love to do - keep bees.


Dave in SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page:  http://pollinator.com

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