They compile statistics, perform inspections, write reports for highly engaged but small audiences on subjects such as bee-colony collapse.

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But the virus itself cannot be the sole cause of colony collapse disorder.

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It could, they suggest, offer an insight into problems like Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious cause of mass bee deaths globally.

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Periodic occurrences resembling what has come to be known as bee Colony Collapse Disorder have been documented as far back as 1869.

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The bee-research team went on to confirm via polymerase chain reaction that hives with colony collapse disorder were far more likely to have IAPV.

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Moreover, it was in 2004 that America began importing bees from Australia just when American beekeepers are thought to have seen the first suspected cases of colony collapse disorder.

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In 2007, about one third of the US domesticated bee population was wiped out as a result of a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with some commercial hive owners losing up to 90% of their bees.

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