Honeybees play an important role in agriculture, by pollinating at least 90 different

species of food plants, worth about 15 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. As a result,

beekeeping or apiculture is a multi-million dollar business. However over the last

year, honey bee populations are crashing (Colony Collapse Disorder) with hives

dying off in less than a week, without an obvious cause. Ian Lipkin a senior

researcher in the Epidemiology (infectious disease) Department of Columbia

University's Mailman School of Public Health believed the cause to be a pathogen

(virus, bacteria or fungus) of some sort. Use the information given to answer the

following questions.
a. What is the hypothesis?
b. Help Dr. Limpkin design a controlled experiment to test this hypothesis.

Question

Honeybees play an important role in agriculture, by pollinating at least 90 different

species of food plants, worth about 15 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. As a result,

beekeeping or apiculture is a multi-million dollar business. However over the last

year, honey bee populations are crashing (Colony Collapse Disorder) with hives

dying off in less than a week, without an obvious cause. Ian Lipkin a senior

researcher in the Epidemiology (infectious disease) Department of Columbia

University's Mailman School of Public Health believed the cause to be a pathogen

(virus, bacteria or fungus) of some sort. Use the information given to answer the

following questions.
 a. What is the hypothesis?
b. Help Dr. Limpkin design a controlled experiment to test this hypothesis.