In a message dated 17/04/2007 04:10:42 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

How many AHB have been effected by CCD? ...........You have any  idea?


None of my own but I'm just drawing together a few threads of other  people's 
work.  
 
Tom Seeley in Honeybee Ecology describes how, left alone and given  
availability of suitable nest sites bees tend to distance their colonies about  half a 
mile from each other (although we can all think of examples where they  have 
not). I was wondering whether AHB are any different in this respect from  the 
bees in the forests of New York State where Seeley conducted his studies  (I 
hope to see him tonight and if I get a chance may ask him).
 
Leslie Bailey in lectures delivered in 1984 (The Effect on the Number  of 
Honey Bee Colonies on their Honey Yields and Diseases) and 1986  (Bee-keeping by 
Numbers) ie before varroa, explored through statistical  analysis what happens 
when honeybees are out of equilibrium with their natural  food supply.  In 
summary there are greater periods when there are a lot  of unemployed foragers 
rubbing shoulders and this was the condition under  which certain diseases were 
best spread, notably Chronic Paralysis  Virus.
 
Norman Carreck would be able to tell us a lot more and I think he  controls 
the copyright of Bailey's lectures!
 
Chris










   

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