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UHPLC-DAD method for the determination of neonicotinoid insecticides in single bees and its relevance in honeybee colony loss investigations

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Abstract

In the understanding of colony loss phenomena, a worldwide crisis of honeybee colonies which has serious consequences for both apiculture and bee-pollination-dependent farm production, analytical chemistry can play an important role. For instance, rapid and accurate analytical procedures are currently required to better assess the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on honeybee health. Since their introduction in agriculture, neonicotinoid insecticides have been blamed for being highly toxic to honeybees, possibly at the nanogram per bee level or lower. As a consequence, most of the analytical methods recently optimized have focused on the analysis of ultratraces of neonicotinoids using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry techniques to study the effects of sublethal doses. However, recent evidences on two novel routes—seedling guttations and seed coating particulate, both associated with corn crops—that may expose honeybees to huge amounts of neonicotinoids in the field, with instantly lethal effects, suggest that selected procedures need optimizing. In the present work, a simplified ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–diode-array detection method for the determination of neonicotinoids in single bees has been optimized and validated. The method ensures good selectivity, good accuracy, and adequate detection limits, which make it suitable for the purpose, while maintaining its ability to evaluate exposure variability of individual bees. It has been successfully applied to the analysis of bees in free flight over an experimental sowing field, with the bees therefore being exposed to seed coating particulate released by the pneumatic drilling machine.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the University of Padova within the PRAT project “Chemical basis of honey bee collapse” and the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali (MiPAAF), Italy, within the project APENET coordinated by Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura (CRA). We are grateful to M.T. Musacchio (University of Padova) for helpful revision of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Andrea Tapparo, Chiara Giorio, Lidia Soldà, Sara Bogialli & Daniele Marton

  2. Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Padova, Agripolis – viale dell’Università 16, 35020, Legnaro, Padova, Italy

    Matteo Marzaro & Vincenzo Girolami

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  1. Andrea Tapparo
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  2. Chiara Giorio
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  3. Lidia Soldà
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  4. Sara Bogialli
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  5. Daniele Marton
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  6. Matteo Marzaro
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  7. Vincenzo Girolami
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Correspondence to Andrea Tapparo.

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Published in the special issue Analytical Science in Italy with guest editor Aldo Roda.

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Tapparo, A., Giorio, C., Soldà, L. et al. UHPLC-DAD method for the determination of neonicotinoid insecticides in single bees and its relevance in honeybee colony loss investigations. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 1007–1014 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6338-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6338-3

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