> I'm not sure I have read a compelling argument nor has anyone presented an alternate literature review study yet which has materially refuted the central premise of the paper - caged bees in laboratory settings appear to be living approximately 1/2 as long as they did 50 years ago when the results are normalized for, **...

The argument may not be compelling to anyone but a stats geek, but I did pointedly raise an eyebrow at the use of the very obscure  "Shapiro–Wilk" statistical tool - it can exaggerate the actual departure from the normal distribution, and I mentioned that other statistical treatments may not produce the same result from the hive yield figures.  I'm not going to ask for the data, and re-run an analysis 11 different ways to see where all the bell curves center, but as a general rule, the use of an unusual stats tool most often means that the results touted could not be produced using more mainstream statistical tests with more familiar names.  

As for the caged-bee survival time aspect, the presentation of the unsurprising finding that provisioning water helps the caged bees live longer prompts me to wonder if there ever were any standards at for caged bee husbandry, and if anyone is paying any attention to the COLOSS "best practices".  Jerry's comments about the use of plastic vs more breathable containers are also very apt, and could be a significant factor, given his comments.

Plastic and bees don't mix well in general. Not so long ago, the paper milkshake straws from McDonalds were the perfect tube to deploy for raising Japanese Hornfaced Bees, a bee that was dearly loved and heavily promoted by Dr. Suzanne Batra of the USDA.  She made it a point to cajole those of us in the apple and stone fruit pollination biz to give her bees a try, and a number of us did.  One of the things we learned the hard way was that when McDonalds switched to plastic milkshake straws, they were not useful in solitary bee husbandry.   Mortality rates went exponential.  So, we had to switch to paper tubes that we paid far more for, as  a box of 500 McDonalds straws changed hands for anything from "free" to "dirt cheap" once one explained the purpose behind buying a large number of straws to the McDonalds manager.

(I am happy to report that, at least in the NYC area, they have recently gone back to paper straws, out of concern for the plastics pollution issue.)

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