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Pesticides and honey bee toxicity — USA

Pesticides et toxicité chez l’abeille — USA

Pestizide und Toxizität für Honigbienen — USA

  • Review Article
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Abstract

Until 1985 discussions of pesticides and honey bee toxicity in the USA were focused on pesticides applied to crops and the unintentional exposure of foraging bees to them. The recent introduction of arthropod pests of honey bees, Acarapis woodi (1984), Varroa destructor (1987), and Aethina tumida (1997), to the USA have resulted in the intentional introduction of pesticides into beehives to suppress these pests. Both the unintentional and the intentional exposure of honey bees to pesticides have resulted in residues in hive products, especially beeswax. This review examines pesticides applied to crops, pesticides used in apiculture and pesticide residues in hive products. We discuss the role that pesticides and their residues in hive products may play in colony collapse disorder and other colony problems. Although no single pesticide has been shown to cause colony collapse disorder, the additive and synergistic effects of multiple pesticide exposures may contribute to declining honey bee health.

Zusammenfassung

Neuere systemisch wirkende Pestizide, einschließlich der Neonikotinoide (z. B. Imidacloprid) und Phenylpyrazole (z. B. Fipronil) finden in den USA verbreitete Anwendung im Pflanzenschutz. Das Gefährdungspotenzial von Bienen durch diese Präparate unterscheidet sich von dem traditioneller Pestizidanwendungen, bei denen die hauptsächliche Sorge der akuten Giftigkeit galt. Im Hinblick auf die Verordnungen zu Pestiziden in den USA wurden die Folgen von chronischer und sublethaler Belastung durch systemische Mittel bisher nicht umfassend in Betracht gezogen, obwohl die Sachlage, was diese Präparate betrifft, gegenwärtig von der Umweltbehörde (EPA) begutachtet wird. Zahlreiche in den USA angebaute Pflanzen wurden genetisch verändert, um entweder insektizid wirkende Bt Toxine oder Herbizidresistenz zu exprimieren. Insektizid wirkende Bt Toxine scheinen jedoch spezifisch toxisch für Ertragsschädlinge zu sein und können daher den Bienen nützen, indem sie die Anwendung traditioneller Pestizide reduzieren.

Bis zur Einführung von arthropoden Bienenschädlingen in die USA in der Mitte der achtziger Jahre wurden Bienen den verschiedenen Pestiziden nur unbeabsichtigt ausgesetzt, während sie auf gespritzten Pflanzen sammelten. Die Notwendigkeit, Bienenschädlinge, besonders die Varroamilbe (Varroa destructor), zu bekämpfen, erfordert seitdem jedoch oft eine absichtliche Anwendung von Pestiziden in Bienenvölkern. Tau-Fluvalinat und Coumaphos, jeweils in Streifenform angewendet, sind in den USA immer noch für die Anwendung in Bienenvölkern zugelassen, obwohl die Wirksamkeit dieser Substanzen gegen Varroamilben durch die Entwicklung von Resistenzen vermindert wurde. Ein neues Varroazid, Fenpyroximate, wurde in einigen Staaten zur Anwendung zugelassen. Essentielle Öle, einschließlich Thymol und Menthol, sind ebenso wie Ameisensäure zur Anwendung in der Verdampfung zugelassen. Oxalsäure ist nur in Kanada, jedoch nicht in den USA zugelassen.

Über 150 verschiedene Pestizide wurden in Proben aus Bienenständen in den USA gefunden. Von Imkern eingesetzte Pestizide werden tendenziell öfter im Wachs der Völker nachgewiesen, von wo aus Pollen, Bienenbrot und Honig damit kontaminiert werden. Auf der anderen Seite werden Pestizide, vor allem Fungizide, die nicht in Bienenvölkern eingesetzt werden, tendenziell am häufigsten in Pollen nachgewiesen und kontaminieren das Wachs nur dann, wenn sie eingelagert werden. Da Honigbienen den sublethalen Konzentrationen zahlreicher Pestizide gleichzeitig ausgesetzt sind, wird zusätzliche Forschung zur Aufklärung synergistischer Effekte bei chronischer sublethaler Belastung mit mehreren Pesitziden benötigt.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska, 202 Entomology Hall, 68583, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Reed M. Johnson & Marion D. Ellis

  2. Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, 501 Ag Sciences and Industry Building, 16802, University Park, PA, USA

    Christopher A. Mullin & Maryann Frazier

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  1. Reed M. Johnson
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  2. Marion D. Ellis
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Correspondence to Marion D. Ellis.

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Johnson, R.M., Ellis, M.D., Mullin, C.A. et al. Pesticides and honey bee toxicity — USA. Apidologie 41, 312–331 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010018

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