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Pesticide Exposure and Effects on Non-Apis Bees

Raine, Nigel E. and Rundlöf, Maj LU orcid (2024) In Annual Review of Entomology 69. p.551-576
Abstract

Bees are essential pollinators of many crops and wild plants, and pesticide exposure is one of the key environmental stressors affecting their health in anthropogenically modified landscapes. Until recently, almost all information on routes and impacts of pesticide exposure came from honey bees, at least partially because they were the only model species required for environmental risk assessments (ERAs) for insect pollinators. Recently, there has been a surge in research activity focusing on pesticide exposure and effects for non-Apis bees, including other social bees (bumble bees and stingless bees) and solitary bees. These taxa vary substantially from honey bees and one another in several important ecological traits, including... (More)

Bees are essential pollinators of many crops and wild plants, and pesticide exposure is one of the key environmental stressors affecting their health in anthropogenically modified landscapes. Until recently, almost all information on routes and impacts of pesticide exposure came from honey bees, at least partially because they were the only model species required for environmental risk assessments (ERAs) for insect pollinators. Recently, there has been a surge in research activity focusing on pesticide exposure and effects for non-Apis bees, including other social bees (bumble bees and stingless bees) and solitary bees. These taxa vary substantially from honey bees and one another in several important ecological traits, including spatial and temporal activity patterns, foraging and nesting requirements, and degree of sociality. In this article, we review the current evidence base about pesticide exposure pathways and the consequences of exposure for non-Apis bees. We find that the insights into non-Apis bee pesticide exposure and resulting impacts across biological organizations, landscapes, mixtures, and multiple stressors are still in their infancy. The good news is that there are many promising approaches that could be used to advance our understanding, with priority given to informing exposure pathways, extrapolating effects, and determining how well our current insights (limited to very few species and mostly neonicotinoid insecticides under unrealistic conditions) can be generalized to the diversity of species and lifestyles in the global bee community. We conclude that future research to expand our knowledge would also be beneficial for ERAs and wider policy decisions concerning pollinator conservation and pesticide regulation.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Apis, Bombus, bumble bee, bumblebee, environmental risk assessment, honey bee, honeybee, landscape ecotoxicology, pesticide exposure pathway, routes of exposure
in
Annual Review of Entomology
volume
69
pages
26 pages
publisher
Annual Reviews
external identifiers
  • scopus:85181146110
  • pmid:37827173
ISSN
0066-4170
DOI
10.1146/annurev-ento-040323-020625
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
adf7abbb-a2c9-45d8-b860-5341c168c503
date added to LUP
2025-01-14 13:47:04
date last changed
2025-07-16 04:44:02
@article{adf7abbb-a2c9-45d8-b860-5341c168c503,
  abstract     = {{<p>Bees are essential pollinators of many crops and wild plants, and pesticide exposure is one of the key environmental stressors affecting their health in anthropogenically modified landscapes. Until recently, almost all information on routes and impacts of pesticide exposure came from honey bees, at least partially because they were the only model species required for environmental risk assessments (ERAs) for insect pollinators. Recently, there has been a surge in research activity focusing on pesticide exposure and effects for non-Apis bees, including other social bees (bumble bees and stingless bees) and solitary bees. These taxa vary substantially from honey bees and one another in several important ecological traits, including spatial and temporal activity patterns, foraging and nesting requirements, and degree of sociality. In this article, we review the current evidence base about pesticide exposure pathways and the consequences of exposure for non-Apis bees. We find that the insights into non-Apis bee pesticide exposure and resulting impacts across biological organizations, landscapes, mixtures, and multiple stressors are still in their infancy. The good news is that there are many promising approaches that could be used to advance our understanding, with priority given to informing exposure pathways, extrapolating effects, and determining how well our current insights (limited to very few species and mostly neonicotinoid insecticides under unrealistic conditions) can be generalized to the diversity of species and lifestyles in the global bee community. We conclude that future research to expand our knowledge would also be beneficial for ERAs and wider policy decisions concerning pollinator conservation and pesticide regulation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Raine, Nigel E. and Rundlöf, Maj}},
  issn         = {{0066-4170}},
  keywords     = {{Apis; Bombus; bumble bee; bumblebee; environmental risk assessment; honey bee; honeybee; landscape ecotoxicology; pesticide exposure pathway; routes of exposure}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{551--576}},
  publisher    = {{Annual Reviews}},
  series       = {{Annual Review of Entomology}},
  title        = {{Pesticide Exposure and Effects on Non-Apis Bees}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-040323-020625}},
  doi          = {{10.1146/annurev-ento-040323-020625}},
  volume       = {{69}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}