Follow the link to an interesting article. Sorry but the conclusion is mites and viruses are the primary causes of bee losses; not neonictinoids. Think about your mite control program now!
geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/04/17/honeybee-population-isnt-crashing-and-seed-pesticides-are-not-driving-health-problems-and-heres-why/
No doubt that Varroa Destructor is the honey bees' major nemesis by depleting the fat bodies and weakening the individual honey bee's immune defenses as well as transmitting some of the viruses they suffer from, but pesticides, neonics prominently among them, cause a lot of harm as well. I tend to follow The Xerces Society's reporting over Jon Entine's Genetic Literacy Project.
ReplyDeletehttps://xerces.org/neonic-report-exec-summary/