Bill T wrote:

> If the observed CCD symptoms are decreasing, then those things that have
> been with us all along - pesticides, nosema, Varroa and the like - are not
> the cause but something else was.

Is that really the case?  You asked if there could be a natural cycle of 
nosema; I would agree that it is very likely.  We also see cycles in many 
other diseases, including damage from varroa.  The effect of pesticides may 
not be cyclic in the same way as diseases, but crop rotation could cause 
them to have a cyclic impact where certain pesticides are associated with 
specific crops (appreciate that is not the case with a fixed crop such as 
almonds).

So, as I see it, our bees are subject to various stresses (including the 
weather), many perhaps sublethal and most of which could be cyclic (or 
random) to some extent.

The real problems will occur when they peak together.
Best wishes

Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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