Neonicotinoids: Trying To Make Sense of the Science

**gavin** · 10-11-2012, 12:59 AM

Don't you bring Dr Who into this. He is the one person/Time Lord who got it right. 'Twas something to do with a special alignment of some stray suns that enabled them to hop back home. I think.

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**Jon** · 10-11-2012, 01:37 AM

Who trumps Lu any day of the week.

**Neils** · 10-11-2012, 01:54 AM

Wu Tang Clan?

**gavin** · 10-11-2012, 10:12 AM

OK, may have been planets, not suns. Is there still time for me to alert the Parliamentary investigation? I have some new evidence ....

Just in case anyone involved in the Westminster enquiry does drop by, have you asked anyone whether:

- accepting that there was a long-term decline in beekeeping until about 10 years ago, is there really an issue with a decline in honeybees since then?
- are loss rates in recent winters really any different than historical winter loss rates?
- in the UK, do those who manage their bee stocks well (proper Varroa control, supplementary feeding when the bees are under stress) suffer unacceptable losses?
- do bee farmers and experienced hobby beekeepers consider that parts of the country are already at capacity regarding honeybee numbers and available forage?
- if you do not have any contributions already offered to you by those who make their living from honeybees, are you planning to ask them for their views on the quality of forage from non-organic agricultural crops?

And on bumble bees, bearing in mind that the two most recent papers *do* seem to point at problems when colonies are dosed in a manner that probably gives higher levels of exposure to neonics than is normally experienced, but that there is little certainty on the actual levels of exposure .....

- are there any data that indicate numbers of bumble bees are lower than they should be given the available forage and nest site availability?
- apart from a loss of a couple of southern bumble bee species due to habitat loss and the restriction of one key northern species again probably due to changes in habitat, and reducing numbers of common bumble bees where there has been extensive land use change, are there any other changes that require a further explanation, such as an effect of pesticides?
- what does the spread of some species in Scotland and the colonisation of the UK from the south by a new species tell us about the drivers for change of bumble bee distributions?