[Pollinator] Commercial bees spreading disease to wild pollinating bees

[Michael Otterstatter]

Posting for the Pollinator Digest:

Does Pathogen Spillover from Commercially Reared Bumble Bees Threaten  
Wild Pollinators?

In a study published in the July 23 issue of the online, open-access  
journal PLoS ONE, Michael Otterstatter and James Thomson of the  
University of Toronto present compelling evidence that commercially  
produced bumble bees used in greenhouses are infecting their wild  
cousins, and that this may be contributing to declines in natural  
pollinating bee populations.

The article is freely available at:

http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002771