On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:52:39 EDT, Jerry Bromenshenk <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

As of Monday, we had 411 surveys from beekeepers across the  U.S. (with a few 
from Canada).  Of these beekeepers,  171 or  41.2% listed their bee losses as 
severe.  On the other hand, 46.6% of the  beekeepers surveyed said that their 
losses were low to average.  Obviously,  it is clear that about half the U.S. 
beekeepers have not sustained damage or  seen CCD.


I was curious about what appears to be a discrepancy in your statistics and those reported below 
by Dr. Diana Cox-Foster, PhD, Professor, Pennsylvania State University in her testimony in 
Washington today?

""The exact impact of CCD across the United States is difficult to gauge since essential 
data on the number of bee keepers, number of colonies, and death rates are not measured. 
A preliminary nationwide survey, initiated last month by the Apiary Inspectors of 
America, suggests that a 17 % loss of colonies is considered normal, which is 
astonishing, given that one would be hard pressed to find another agricultural commodity 
sustaining losses of this magnitude on a regular basis.  This same survey also found that 
approximately one-quarter of responding beekeepers suffered CCD. ""

http://agriculture.house.gov/testimony/110/h70329/CoxFoster.pdf

I wonder how would a statistician account for a possible bias in your Bee Alert survery 
respondents sample group in that is someone with no problems less inclined to fill out the survey?  

If the Apiary Inspectors survery was done by calling randomly from a list of registered  beekeepers 
across the USA the cross sample may be providing a much different picture of what is going on.

Either way both numbers seem high from my perspective here in Mn, and from comments here on 
Bee-L. I'm sure it will become more clear as the summer goes on and state inspectors make their 
rounds etc. 

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