SweetBrea t1_iwc0z4u wrote
Reply to comment by Alphadice in The lifespans of honey bees living in laboratory environments has dropped about 50% over the last 50 years, hinting at possible causes for the worrisome trends across the beekeeping industry, according to new research by University of Maryland entomologists. by Wagamaga
>This happened under lab conditions though.
Forcing bees to live in an entirely unnatural setting couldn't possibly have any negative impact, right?
DonUdo t1_iwc19cn wrote
Apparently it didn't 50 years ago
SweetBrea t1_iwc1mye wrote
You don't think a negative impact can take generations to really start to be observable to us? You don't think generations in a lab without access to the environment that builds an immune system can eventually have large effects on the population as a whole?
DonUdo t1_iwc29ip wrote
Why would you think they breed them exclusively in the lab instead of taking princesses from outside population?
SweetBrea t1_iwc4z03 wrote
Because they literally claim they are "independent of environmental stressors". How could they be sure it isn't environmental if they were just repeatedly harvesting them from, ya know, the environment?
Kangie t1_iwc84qe wrote
> [environmental] Stressors are environmental factors that cause stress. They include biotic factors such as food availability, the presence of predators, infection with pathogenic organisms or interactions with conspecifics, as well as abiotic factors such as temperature, water availability and toxicants.
nuck_forte_dame t1_iwc3tsl wrote
It's comparing apples to apples.
They aren't comparing lifespan in a lab today with natural 50 years ago.
They are comparing to lifespan in labs 50 years ago.
ohhmichael t1_iwc9dul wrote
And if the lab results 50 years ago and today are 25% affected by environmental conditions, then the results cannot be concluded as being independent of environmental conditions...
Nearatree t1_iwcajs1 wrote
No see, they moved the labs beyond the environment.
SweetBrea t1_iwc5rs7 wrote
I am saying the methods they are using to compare the apples to apples may be what is actually affecting the apples... or bees if you will.
EricTheNerd2 t1_iwcaw5q wrote
No, that isn't what you said at all.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments