Thanks Dee for sending more info.

The research abstract reported finding of low numbers of wild bees on GMO 
fields. The authors did not explain why. They suggested to do further 
research. What I see in the published abstract a hypothesis to be tested. 
There is no cause and effect relationship  established to explain why low 
numbers of bees on these plants. Simply this is a hypothesis that needs to 
be tested.

Being in Alberta, If you visit Alberta in summer, you will find thousands 
of acres covered with yellow canola flowers. It looks like a yellow 
carpet. This is a monoculture of one crop grown on thousands of acres in 
one location. This type of agroecosystem could effect the foraging 
behaviour of any bees. On the other hand, organic rape is grown away from 
canola to avoid any drifting of GM pollen and farmers need to comply with 
requirements set by the organic food certifiers. Therefore, you will find 
several other crops grown near the organic fields. This type of 
diversified  (Multi-crops) agroecosystem such as the one for organic rape, 
might promote more bees and different kind of bees to be attracted. 

Talking about bees, some bee species are polylectic. these are bees that 
visit flowers of many plant species. The best example is the honey bee. 
Other bee species are known to be oligolectic. These bees visit flowers of 
a limited number of species, sometimes but not necessarily close related. 
Monlectic bees, these are bees or insect species that visit flowers of one 
or very few species. This type of feeding specialization could be also a 
factor that should be considered in this type of study.

I am sure that this type of subject is an interesting subject to study. 
The agroecostsem can be very complex and too many variables have to be 
considered. I hope that my points will shed some lights on the subject. We 
need to keep our minds open and look at the full picture. This type of 
healthy discussion could list many factors involved in this system. It 
will interesting to find out what future studies on will say.


Medhat

Medhat Nasr, Ph. D.
Provincial Apiculturist
Crop Diversification Centre North

17507 Fort Road
Edmonton, AB, Canada T5Y 6H3
Tel: (780) 415-2314    Fax: (780) 422-6096
Mailto:[log in to unmask]

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