Comparative Toxicity of Pesticides to Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Abstract

Stingless bees are potential pollinators of commercial tropical crops and their use may increase in the short term. However, studies comparing the toxicity of pesticides to different individuals and species are lacking, making it difficult to evaluate their short- and long-term effects on colonies and populations of these insects. In this work, we tested the lethality of compounds from the main pesticide groups on stingless bees of the species Melipona beecheii Bennett, Trigona nigra Provancher, and Nannotrigona perilampoides Cresson. The LDo (in micrograms per bee) for each pesticide was calculated for callow workers and foragers of the three species as well as for gynes and drones of M. beecheii. The results showed that all species were highly susceptible to the evaluated compounds. Nicotinoid pesticides were the most toxic, followed in descending order by permethrin, diazinon, and methomyl. We found evidence of a relationship between the body weight of the species and their LD50 for permethrin and methomyl (r = 0.91 and 0.90, respectively) but not for diazinon (r = -0.089). An analysis of contingency tables showed that within each species, callow workers had higher mortalities than foragers (P < 0.01). In M. beecheii at similar pesticide dose more males died compared with females [chi2((0.0),1) = 10.16]. However, gynes were less resistant than workers [chi2((0.01),1)) = 8.11]. The potential negative consequences of pesticides to native stingless bees are discussed considering the reproductive biology of these insects. It is important to take actions to prevent damage to these key species for the ecology and agriculture of Mexico and Latin America

Spinosad in the native stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata: Regrettable non-target toxicity of a bioinsecticide

“…Pollinators can physically contact and ingest insecticides, and acute lethal toxicity testing of insecticides to honeybee workers is a longstanding requirement for insecticide registration in several countries (Lewis et al, 1998;Whitford et al, 2002). However, there has been an apparent shift in attention to the sublethal effects of insecticides, which may compromise individual fitness and contribute to colony decline (Valdovinos-Núñez et al, 2009;Brittain et al, 2010;Johnson et al, 2010;Bryden et al, 2013). Such effects include developmental alterations, longevity and queen production declines, neural disturbances, memory and learning impairments, and walking and foraging disabilities (Decourtye et al, 2004a,b;Yang et al, 2008;Belzunces et al, 2012;Henry et al, 2012;Tomé et al, 2012).…”

Estado Actual De La Investigación Sobre Plaguicidas en México

“…Sin embargo, existen más de 60 artículos derivados de investigaciones ecotoxicológicas recientes realizadas en México en peces (i.e. Martínez-Tabche et al 1994, Dzul-Caamal et al 2012, Díaz-Resendiz et al 2015, Sánchez-Garayzar et al 2016, Toledo-Ibarra et al 2016 (Anguiano et al 2007(Anguiano et al , 2010 e insectos (Valdovinos-Núñez et al 2009, Pérez-Cogollo et al 2015. Dichos estudios relacionan exposición de OC, OF, CA, PS y herbicidas, con efectos en la salud de organismos de prueba.…”

Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment for bees for the active substance imidacloprid considering all uses other than seed treatments and granules

“…The use of this approach together with the available toxicity data from the systematic literature search report (Fryday et al, 2015) was discussed at the meeting. In the systematic literature report, three endpoints for non-apis and non-bombus species were available which fitted in the risk assessment scheme of EFSA, 2013b(Kumar et al, 2005Valdovinos-Nunez et al, 2009;Biddinger et al, 2013). All three endpoints were acute contact LD 50 values expressed in µg/bee.…”