I have gotten surprisingly little feedback about the proposed study.
Need feedback specifically from those on the List who have strong feelings
about the neonics (Stan, Bob) to ensure that my proposal meets your
qualifications for a legitimate test. I specifically designed the trial not
to "prove" anything, but rather to simply quantify any observable practical
effect of clothianidin exposure to colonies under "real life" conditions.
If there are others who wish to follow the protocol concurrently (you would
have to be in a non-neonic area), please let me know, as that would be great
for replication. All would be totally blinded as to treatment in order to
eliminate any possibility of investigator bias.
A draft follows (sorry for loss of formatting)
*DRAFT December 22, 2010*
*Research Proposal*
*Effect of long-term late-season exposure to clothianidin residues in
pollen.*
* *
*Randy Oliver*
*ScientificBeekeeping.com*
* *
*Objective*
To determine whether late-season long-term exposure of full-sized
colonies to clothianidin at actual field levels under normal field
conditions affects adult bee populations, weight gain, winter survivability,
or pathogen levels (varroa, nosema, viruses).
To the best of the investigator’s knowledge, this will be the first trial of
this duration and seasonal timing. The objective is to address the question
from beekeepers that late-season exposure to clothianidin-contaminated
pollen results in colony mortality due to long-term sublethal effects of the
pesticide either in fall or during the subsequent winter.
*Method*
10 colonies ea, test and control. Trial period August 15 through February
15. Trial will take place in the Sierra foothills away from agriculture,
during the normal late-season nectar and pollen dearth.
All colonies will be fed enough 1:1 sucrose syrup to ensure that weight gain
due to forager activity will be evident, i.e., to the extent that the
weakest colonies do not lose weight.
All colonies will be fed weekly with a 1lb pollen patty composed of 1:1
trapped mixed wildflower pollen:sucrose, which will ensure that the fed
pollen is the main protein source.
Treatment: Patties in the treatment group would be spiked with clothianidin
at a concentration in the upper range of actual samples from field corn as
determined by others (Jim Frazier?). All pollen patties will be prepared by
an independent lab following GLP’s, tested to confirm pesticide levels, and
shipped frozen to the investigator.
Blinding: The investigator, graders, and statistical analyst will be
blinded as to treatment.
Treatment period: Pollen feeding period will be from trial initiation
through about October 15 (9 weekly feedings) to simulate normal pollen
availability, and to ensure that the bees forming the winter cluster were
fed during the developmental period by nurse bees fed treated pollen. The
feeding period would encompass 3 entire brood cycles.
Data collection: Data will be collected at 4 time points:
1. At trial initiation, August 15
2. Oct 1
3. Nov 1
4. Feb 15
Note: to control costs, virus samples will only be taken twice, on Oct 1 and
Nov 1.
Variables to be measured:
1. Hive weight
2. Colony population by “California grading”
3. Colony survival—this would be included in the above.
4. Varroa infestation level by alcohol wash of 300 bees from the
broodnest
5. Nosema infestation level by hemacytometer
6. Viruses present and quantification by IVDS
*Analysis*
* *
The significance of any treatment effects would be determined by standard
statistical analysis.
***********************************************
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