Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Exposure to Pesticide Residues in Nectar and Pollen in Urban and Suburban Environments from Four Regions of the United States

Abstract

The risk of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) exposure to pesticide residues while foraging for nectar and pollen is commonly explored in the context of agroecosystems. However, pesticides are also used in urban and suburban areas for vegetation management, vector control, and the management of ornamental plants in public and private landscapes. The extent to which pesticides pose a health risk to honey bees in these settings remains unclear. We addressed this at a landscape scale by conducting pesticide residue screening analyses on 768 nectar and 862 pollen samples collected monthly over 2 years from honey bee colonies located in urban and suburban areas in eight medium to large cities in California, Florida, Michigan, and Texas (USA). A risk assessment was performed using the US Environmental Protection Agency's BeeREX model whenever an oral toxicity value was available for a compound. Chemical analyses detected 17 pesticides in nectar and 60 in pollen samples during the survey. Approximately 73% of all samples contained no detectable pesticide residues. Although the number of detections varied among the sampled regions, fewer pesticides were detected in nectar than in pollen. Per BeeREX, four insecticides showed a potential acute risk to honey bees: imidacloprid, chlorpyrifos, and esfenvalerate in nectar, and deltamethrin in nectar and pollen. In general, exposure of honey bees to pesticides via nectar and pollen collection was low in urban and suburban areas across the United States, and no seasonal or spatial trends were evident. Our data suggest that honey bees are exposed to fewer pesticides in developed areas than in agricultural ones. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:991–1003. © 2022 SETAC

Effects of spinetoram and glyphosate on physiological biomarkers and gut microbes in Bombus terrestris

“…After pesticides are used in agriculture, they remain in the nectar and pollen of plants and may be collected by bees and brought back to the hive. Recently, there have been many studies reporting the presence of pesticides in hives ( Jabot et al, 2015 ; Wen et al, 2021 ; Demares et al, 2022 ; Perez-Cobo et al, 2022 ; Xiao et al, 2022 ). However, pesticide exposure levels in the hives are usually below the levels that directly cause bee mortality.…”

Pesticide Contamination in an Intensive Insect Predator of Honey Bees

“…This was unfortunately impossible to quantify in this study but future analyses of larvae and nesting material should bring further information on this matter. Pesticide residues found in urban and sub-urban areas indicate that contaminated nectar and honey bees are present in such areas (Botías et al, 2016;Démares et al, 2022;Mahé et al, 2021), demonstrating the importance of studying urban environments in ecotoxicology because of garden and domestic pesticides use (Md Meftaul et al, 2020). Contaminated honey bees brought back to the nest in order to feed larvae may induce bioaccumulation of pesticide residues in the next generation of hornets and inside the nest.…”

“…Pesticides are partly responsible of the current arthropod decline worldwide (Ewald et al, 2015;Goulson, 2019;Outhwaite et al, 2020;Schulz et al, 2021) and have impacts on their predators such as other arthropods, birds and bats (Douglas et al, 2015;Frank and Tooker, 2020;Hallmann et al, 2014;Moreau et al, 2022;Tooker and Pearsons, 2021) through the food chain. Despite efforts made on more precise spraying methods and dose reduction, pesticides are still present on nontarget plants and organisms within agricultural fields, field margins (Botías et al, 2016;Brühl et al, 2021;Ward et al, 2022) and in urban environments (Botías et al, 2017;Démares et al, 2022;Md Meftaul et al, 2020). Terrestrial insects can be exposed by feeding or drinking on contaminated sources or by contact with the product or with contaminated surfaces (Gibbons et al, 2015).…”

Phytochemicals, Probiotics, Recombinant Proteins: Enzymatic Remedies to Pesticide Poisonings in Bees

“…Pesticide exposures thus mainly occur through the consumption of stored food (e.g., honey or supplemental syrup fed by beekeepers). Honey usually has lower pesticide residues compared to pollen, and pollen is not consumed in winter due to a pause of brood production. , Syrup feeding does not carry the risk of poisoning bees with pesticide residues, since manufactured syrups are typically food-grade; however, they are less valuable for mitigating enzyme damage that occurs to overwinter bees and instead can worsen bee health if pesticides are present in honey stores . In fall, pesticides for Varroa control (namely, varroacides) are routinely used in the closed chamber of hives and can cause chronic toxicity through either oral and/or contact exposure to bees that survive through the winter. , Administration of 3P to honey bees can be a strategy to mitigate the toxicity of food pesticide residues and varroacides while supporting Varroa control.…”