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 *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm