Hi All

Peter is right - this work is being quoted wrongly.  It was
not a study to comment on whether or not bees 'stay away'
from GM, conventional or organic canola (aka oilseed rape).
They will only 'shun' something if they can tell the
difference, and it seems most unlikely that they can
discriminate GM from non-GM canola.

The study estimated the numbers of bees present in such
crops, and commented that: 'Our study illustrates the
importance of wild bees to agricultural production and
suggests that some agroecosystems may better sustain wild
bee abundance, resulting in greater seed production.'

So, the farms and the areas around the farms sustain
different-sized populations of wild bees.  Perhaps GM
farmers are 'neater' farmers, permitting less wild and
semi-wild habitat on their farms.  Maybe they are just more
trigger-happy with their pesticides in general.  Perhaps
more GM than conventional seed, and no organic canola seed,
is dressed with imidacloprid.  Perhaps organic farmers are
more likely to be the kind of people that maintain wildlife
habitat reserves on their land.  Who knows?!  Morandin and
Winston don't appear to know, as they say: 'Further research
on why some cropping systems, such as genetically modified,
herbicide-resistant canola, have low wild bee abundance
would be useful for management of agroecosystems to promote
sustainability of food production.'

No claims are being made that bees are 'staying away' from
GM.  As I recall Allen Dick used to make part of his income
from pollination services for GM canola seed production -
are you out there Allen?!

The full abstract is here, as is the full paper for anyone
with a subscription:
http://www.esajournals.org/esaonline/?request=get-toc&issn=1051-0761&volume=015&issue=03

all the best

Gavin

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