Interspecific sensitivity of bees towards dimethoate and implications for environmental risk assessment

Uhl, Philipp; Franke, Lude; Rehberg, Christina; Wollmann, Claudia; Stahlschmidt, Peter; Jeker, Lukas; Brühl, Carsten A.

doi:10.1038/srep34439

Cited by 45 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…It has been noted that the entire spectrum of bee species is not well represented because the honey bee is used as the only surrogate. Other bee species' sensitivity to pesticides is usually unknown (Arena and Sgolastra 2014;Uhl et al 2016). Because relative susceptibility varies for different pesticides, it is difficult to extrapolate acute toxicity data from the honey bee to wild bees (Biddinger et al 2013;Uhl et al 2016).…”

Section: Bee Risk Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Pesticides on Flower‐Visiting Insects: A Review with Regard to European Risk Assessment

Uhl

Brühl

2019

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Flower‐visiting insects (FVIs) are an ecologically diverse group of mobile, flying species that should be protected from pesticide effects according to European policy. However, there is an ongoing decline of FVI species, partly caused by agricultural pesticide applications. Therefore, the risk assessment framework needs to be improved. We synthesized the peer‐reviewed literature on FVI groups and their ecology, habitat, exposure to pesticides, and subsequent effects. The results show that FVIs are far more diverse than previously thought. Their habitat, the entire agricultural landscape, is potentially contaminated with pesticides through multiple pathways. Pesticide exposure of FVIs at environmentally realistic levels can cause population‐relevant adverse effects. This knowledge was used to critically evaluate the European regulatory framework of exposure and effect assessment. The current risk assessment should be amended to incorporate specific ecological properties of FVIs, that is, traits. We present data‐driven tools to improve future risk assessments by making use of trait information. There are major knowledge gaps concerning the general investigation of groups other than bees, the collection of comprehensive data on FVI groups and their ecology, linking habitat to FVI exposure, and study of previously neglected complex population effects. This is necessary to improve our understanding of FVIs and facilitate the development of a more protective FVI risk assessment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2355–2370. © 2019 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC

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Section: Bee Risk Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Pesticides on Flower‐Visiting Insects: A Review with Regard to European Risk Assessment

Uhl

Brühl

2019

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…However, there has been reasonable doubt that these two species are adequate to provide additional safety in lower tier risk assessment. Uhl et al (2016) tested five European bee species in acute contact exposure scenarios with a formulated insecticide product (PERFEKTHION ® ) containing dimethoate, which is often used as a toxic standard in regulatory testing [19]. They found that B. terrestris and O. bicornis were the least sensitive species when compared to a dataset of their own results and collected literature data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Osmia bicornis an adequate regulatory surrogate? Comparing its acute contact sensitivity to Apis mellifera

et al. 2019

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Bees provide essential ecosystem services and help maintain floral biodiversity. However, there is an ongoing decline of wild and domesticated bee species. Since agricultural pesticide use is a key driver of this process, there is a need for a protective risk assessment. To achieve a more protective registration process, two bee species, Osmia bicornis / Osmia cornuta and Bombus terrestris , were proposed by the European Food Safety Authority as additional test surrogates to the honey bee Apis mellifera . We investigated the acute toxicity (median lethal dose, LD50) of multiple commercial insecticide formulations towards the red mason bee ( O. bicornis ) and compared these values to honey bee regulatory endpoints. In two thirds of all cases, O. bicornis was less sensitive than the honey bee. By applying an assessment factor of 10 on the honey bee endpoint, a protective level was achieved for 87% (13 out 15) of all evaluated products. Our results show that O. bicornis is rarely an adequate additional surrogate species for lower tier risk assessment since it is less sensitive than the honey bee for the majority of investigated products. Given the currently limited database on bee species sensitivity, the honey bee seems sufficiently protective in acute scenarios as long as a reasonable assessment factor is applied. However, additional surrogate species can still be relevant for ecologically meaningful higher tier studies.

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“…In combination with the extensive experience and resulting robust test methodology makes A. mellifera solid choice as screening level test species. In contrast the relative sensitivity data indicates that the two recently developed model species Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis for the European risk assessment process are comparatively resilient to a range of insecticides, which in turn means that including them in the screening step will likely not make the risk assessment more protective for bees from a sensitivity perspective [12,13,66,67].…”

Section: Risk Assessment Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Extrapolating acute bee sensitivity to insecticides using a phylogenetically informed interspecies scaling framework

Pamminger

2020

Preprint

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Plant protection products, including insecticides, are important for global food production. Historically, research of the adverse effects of insecticides on bees has focused on the honeybee (Apis mellifera), while non-Apis bee species remained understudied. Consequently, sensitivity assessment of insecticides for the majority of bees is lacking, which in turn hinders accurate risk characterization and consequently bee protection. Interspecies sensitivity extrapolation based on body weight offers a potential solution to this problem, but in the past such approaches have often ignored the phylogenetic background and consequently non independence of species used in such models. Using published data on the sensitivity of different bee species to commonly used insecticides, their body weight and phylogenetic background I build interspecies scaling models (ISMs) applying a phylogenetically informed framework. In addition, I compared, the relative sensitivity of the standard test species Apis mellifera to other bee species to evaluate their protectiveness when used as standards screening bee species in the risk assessment process. I found that overall 1) body weight is a predictor of bee sensitivity to insecticides for a range of insecticide classes and 2) A. mellifera is the most sensitive standard test species currently available and consequently a suitable surrogate species for ecotoxicological risk assessment.

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Interspecific sensitivity of bees towards dimethoate and implications for environmental risk assessment

Cited by 45 publications

References 31 publications

The Impact of Pesticides on Flower‐Visiting Insects: A Review with Regard to European Risk Assessment

The Impact of Pesticides on Flower‐Visiting Insects: A Review with Regard to European Risk Assessment

Is Osmia bicornis an adequate regulatory surrogate? Comparing its acute contact sensitivity to Apis mellifera

Extrapolating acute bee sensitivity to insecticides using a phylogenetically informed interspecies scaling framework

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