Growing evidence for declines in bee populations has caused great concern because of the valuable ecosystem services they provide. Neonicotinoid insecticides have been implicated in these declines because they occur at trace levels in the nectar and pollen of crop plants. We exposed colonies of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris in the laboratory to field-realistic levels of the neonicotinoid imi...

The decline of pollinators worldwide is of growing concern and has been related to the use of plant-protecting chemicals. Most studies have focused on three neonicotinoid insecticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam) currently subject to a moratorium in the EU. Here, we focus on thiacloprid, a widely used cyano-substituted neonicotinoid thought to be less toxic to honey bees and o...

Neonicotinoid insecticides are commonly used in managing pest insects, including the imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren. There is increasing evidence that neonicotinoid insecticides at sublethal concentrations have profound effects on social insects. However, the sublethal effect of neonicotinoids on S. invicta has never been investigated. In this study, the newly mated queens were fed...

There is evidence that in Europe and North America many species of pollinators are in decline, both in abundance and distribution. Although there is a long list of potential causes of this decline, there is concern that neonicotinoid insecticides, in particular through their use as seed treatments are, at least in part, responsible. This paper describes a project that set out to summarize the n...

BACKGROUND Concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid were determined in arable soils from a variety of locations in England. RESULTS In soil samples taken from the central area of fields, concentrations of clothianidin ranged from 0.02 to 13.6 µg kg(-1) . Thiamethoxam concentrations were between <0.02 and 1.50 µg kg(-1) , and imidacloprid con...

Forecasting the risk of combined effect avermectin and neonicotinoid insecticides on workers : ISSN 2223-6775 Ukrainian journal occupational health Vol.17, No 3, 2021https://doi.org/10.33573/ujoh2021.03.151 T.A. Yastrub, D.A. DontsovaState Institution

In 1948, Druckrey and Küpfmüller provided a theoretical explaation for Haber’s rule (Haber, 1924). Haber had noted that xposure to a low concentration of a poisonous gas for a long time ften had the same effect (death) as exposure to a high concentraion for a short time. Haber’s rule (for a review, see Witschi, 1999) tates that the product of exposure concentration (c) and expoureduration (t) p...

Reports of colony collapse disorder in bees and studies showing the toxicity of neonicotinoid pesticides have led to claims that we are experiencing a pollinator crisis. As Cyrus Martin reports, however, the issue is complex with threats to bees being multifold and the status of populations unclear due to a surprising lack of data.

Neonicotinoid insecticides are successfully applied to control pests in a variety of agricultural crops; however, they may not only affect pest insects but also non-target organisms such as pollinators. This review summarizes, for the first time, 15 years of research on the hazards of neonicotinoids to bees including honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees. The focus of the paper is on three ...