Review on effects of some insecticides on honey bee health

Zhao, Hang; Li, Guilin; Cui, Xuepei; Wang, Hongfang; Liu, Zhenguo; Yang, Yuewei; Xu, Baohua

doi:10.1016/j.pestbp.2022.105219

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…Although a number of ecotoxicological studies have been carried out on species such as Apis mellifera, and some species of stingless bees, 2,[11][12][13] in the case of Trigona spinipes Fabricius, 1793 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae), little research on the impact of insecticides on these bees has been performed. 14 Trigona spinipes, popularly known in Brazil as 'abelha-cachorro' (dog-bee), is a generalist native stingless bee found throughout most of the Brazilian territory, except in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Rondônia and Roraima.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The stingless bee Trigona spinipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is at risk from a range of insecticides via direct ingestion and trophallactic exchanges

Pereira,

Vieira Júnior,

Barcelos

et al. 2024

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUNDThe stingless bee, Trigona spinipes, is an important pollinator of numerous native and cultivated plants. Trigona spinipes population can be negatively impacted by insecticides commonly used for pest control in crops. However, this species has been neglected in toxicological studies. Here we observed the effects of seven insecticides on the survival of bees that had fed directly on insecticide‐contaminated food sources or received insecticides via trophallactic exchanges between nestmates. The effects of insecticides on flight behavior were also determined for the compounds considered to be of low toxicity.RESULTSImidacloprid, spinosad, and malathion were categorized as highly toxic to T. spinipes, while lambda‐cyhalothrin, methomyl, and chlorfenapyr were medium to low toxicity and interfered with two aspects of flight behavior evaluated here. Chlorantraniliprole was the only insecticide tested here that had no significant effect on T. spinipes survival, although it did interfere with one aspect of flight capacity. A single bee that had ingested malathion, spinosad, and imidacloprid, could contaminate three, four, and nineteen other bees, respectively via trophallaxis, resulting in the death of the recipients.CONCLUSIONThis is the first study to evaluate the ecotoxicology of a range of insecticides that not only negatively affected T. spinipes survival but also interfered with flight capacity, a very important aspect of pollination behavior. The toxicity of the insecticides was observed following direct ingestion and also via trophallactic exchanges between nestmates, highlighting the possibility of lethal effects of these insecticides spreading throughout the colony, reducing the survival of non‐foraging individuals.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture is one of the causes of the decline in honeybee populations, 1,2 representing a negative impact on pollination activities 3–5 . Honeybees are also affected by pests and pathogens, such as Varroa mites and viruses, that have a serious negative impact on pollination activities 6–8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The stingless bee Trigona spinipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is at risk from a range of insecticides via direct ingestion and trophallactic exchanges

Pereira,

Vieira Júnior,

Barcelos

et al. 2024

Pest Management Science

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“…While there have been reports that pyrethroid insecticides repel bees from areas where they have been applied ( Rieth and Levin 1988 ), the pyrethroids cypermethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin were not found to deter honey bee foraging when applied to blooming soybeans ( Fagúndez et al 2016 ). Pesticides are picked up by foraging honey bees and cause lethal and sublethal effects in the colony, creating a major risk for foraging colonies and reducing the long-term viability of pollination and its associated benefits ( Reichelderfer and Caron 1979 , Santos et al 2013 , Tosi et al 2022 , Zhao et al 2022 ). This both raises legal concerns and prevents growers from fully implementing honey bee pollination into integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM) frameworks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring factors affecting honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) attraction to soybeans using bioacoustics monitoring

Forrester,

Lin,

Johnson

2024

Journal of Insect Science

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Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important agricultural crop around the world, and previous studies suggest that honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) can be a component for optimizing soybean production through pollination. Determining when bees are present in soybean fields is critical for assessing pollination activity and identifying periods when bees are absent so that bee-toxic pesticides may be applied. There are currently several methods for detecting pollinator activity, but these existing methods have substantial limitations, including the bias of pan trappings against large bees and the limited duration of observation possible using manual techniques. This study aimed to develop a new method for detecting honey bees in soybean fields using bioacoustics monitoring. Microphones were placed in soybean fields to record the audible wingbeats of foraging bees. Foraging activity was identified using the wingbeat frequency of honey bees (234 ± 14 Hz) through a combination of algorithmic and manual approaches. A total of 243 honey bees were detected over 10 days of recording in 4 soybean fields. Bee activity was significantly greater in blooming fields than in non-blooming fields. Temperature had no significant effect on bee activity, but bee activity differed significantly between soybean varieties, suggesting that soybean attractiveness to honey bees is heavily dependent on varietal characteristics. Refinement of bioacoustics methods, particularly through the incorporation of machine learning, could provide a practical tool for measuring the activity of honey bees and other flying insects in soybeans as well as other crops and ecosystems.

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“…The damage pesticides can do to bees includes, but is not limited to, delayed development, impairment of immunity system, shortening the life span of adults 17 , negative effects on visual learning and induced abnormal behavior such as falling, trembling and rapid abnormal movements 18 . The exposure of honeybees to sublethal concentrations of clothianidin had adverse effects on foraging activity and affected dance communication 19 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different effects of pesticides on transcripts of the endocrine regulation and energy metabolism in honeybee foragers from different colonies

Christen

2023

Sci Rep

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Honeybees are important pollinators of many crops and contribute to biological biodiversity. For years, a decline in bee populations has been observed in certain areas. This decline in honeybees is accompanied by a decrease in pollinator services. One factor contributing to the decline of bee colonies is the exposure to pesticides. Pesticide exposure of bees, among other effects, can negatively affect orientation, memory, immune system function and gene expression. Among the altered expressed genes are transcripts of endocrine regulation and oxidative phosphorylation. Endocrine regulation plays an important role in the development of nurse bees into foragers and oxidative phosphorylation is involved in energy metabolism. Most of these transcriptional changes were investigated using mixed aged honeybees derived from the same colony. Experiments using nurse bees or foragers of the same age but from different colonies are rare. In the present study, effects of the two pesticides chlorpyrifos and pyraclostrobin on the expression of transcripts linked to endocrine regulation and oxidative phosphorylation in foragers of the same age from three different colonies are investigated to fill this gap. These two pesticides were selected because negative effects at sublethal concentrations on bees are known and because they are found in pollen and nectar of crops and wild plants. For this purpose, 20–22 days old foragers of three different colonies were exposed to different sublethal concentrations of the selected fungicides for 24 h, followed by analysis of the expression of buffy, vitellogenin, hbg-3, ilp-1, mrjp1, 2 and 3, cox5a, cox5b and cox17. Some significant changes in gene expression of both endocrine regulation transcripts and oxidative phosphorylation were shown. Furthermore, it became clear that forager bees from different colonies react differently. This is especially important in relation to the risk analysis of pesticides. In addition, it could be shown that the expression of hbg-3 in the brain of bees is a robust marker to distinguish nurse bees from foragers at the molecular biological level. In summary, this study clearly shows that pesticides, which are often detected in pollen and nectar, display negative effects at sublethal concentrations on bees and that it is important to use bees from different colonies for risk assessment of pesticides.

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Review on effects of some insecticides on honey bee health

Cited by 23 publications

References 127 publications

The stingless bee Trigona spinipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is at risk from a range of insecticides via direct ingestion and trophallactic exchanges

The stingless bee Trigona spinipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is at risk from a range of insecticides via direct ingestion and trophallactic exchanges

Measuring factors affecting honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) attraction to soybeans using bioacoustics monitoring

Different effects of pesticides on transcripts of the endocrine regulation and energy metabolism in honeybee foragers from different colonies

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