“...glyphosphate ‘has a possible role’ in ‘colony decline,’ ...”
Agreed. Glyphosate impact on the gut flora of honeybees may be measurable in lab analysis of individual bees, but is it life-altering for the bee, or is it something more like a nagging indigestion that is surmountable both on the individual, and therefore also the collective, level?
It’s good to know there’s an identified vector for the impact of glyphosate on bees, but unless that vector is robust, and is an avenue of dire negative to the whole hive, that it has been identified isn’t, of itself, basis to quit use of glyphosate.
There would have to be research-supported evidence that glyphosate substantively disrupts the gut flora of honeybees to an extent that is so life-altering for the affected individuals as to be a negative life-cycle impact to the whole hive to which those individuals belong. I still think we’re a long way from a finding of that gravity.
There is some dispute over whether there is a real “hive collapse” trend. But what happens in some cases is that bee farms have dead bees, get new live ones to replace them, and still make a profit.