-----Original Message-----
From: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Loring Borst
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 11:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Wild Bee decline threatens U.S Crop Production.

Charlie writes:
> What was done .. was to trap bees in a few tiny locations.   A quick snapshot.  The trapping was IMO not acceptable. 

Agreed. In fact, they cite an important prior work, but do not heed its recommendations. 

Attempts to detect declines in the abundances of other animal species suggest that interannual variability in abundance is so high that for most species it might take as much as 20 years of monitoring to detect a mean decline of 2%/year. As a result, populations may be reduced by almost 50% before evidence for a decline could be detected


There is another problem besides the actual "trapping"  which was not done on a seasons basis or any other smart approach.  Ithe model makes and "assumption"  that there is a standard number of pollinators in each location at a given time period.   How in the hell can you define that?  Mason bees for example vary huge amounts season to season based on wintering conditions.  Same with alfala bees,  how do you define that on Tuesday june 12  there should be  x in a certain area??  What happens when like paper wasp,  the blue jays get all of them in that area??  While 1 mile over are 4 nest hanging??


The key of that paper is it is NOT a paper on pollinators,  but a paper on math.

Charles

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