Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes

Nicholson, Charlie C LU orcid ; Knapp, Jessica LU ; Kiljanek, Tomasz ; Albrecht, Matthias ; Chauzat, Marie-Pierre ; Costa, Cecilia ; De la Rúa, Pilar ; Klein, Alexandra-Maria LU ; Mänd, Marika and Potts, Simon G , et al. (2023) In Nature
Abstract

Sustainable agriculture requires balancing crop yields with the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms, such as bees and other crop pollinators. Field studies demonstrated that agricultural use of neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect wild bee species
1,2, leading to restrictions on these compounds
3. However, besides neonicotinoids, field-based evidence of the effects of landscape pesticide exposure on wild bees is lacking. Bees encounter many pesticides in agricultural landscapes
4-9 and the effects of this landscape exposure on colony growth and development of any bee species remains unknown. Here we show that the many pesticides found in bumble bee-collected pollen are associated with reduced colony... (More)

Sustainable agriculture requires balancing crop yields with the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms, such as bees and other crop pollinators. Field studies demonstrated that agricultural use of neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect wild bee species
1,2, leading to restrictions on these compounds
3. However, besides neonicotinoids, field-based evidence of the effects of landscape pesticide exposure on wild bees is lacking. Bees encounter many pesticides in agricultural landscapes
4-9 and the effects of this landscape exposure on colony growth and development of any bee species remains unknown. Here we show that the many pesticides found in bumble bee-collected pollen are associated with reduced colony performance during crop bloom, especially in simplified landscapes with intensive agricultural practices. Our results from 316 Bombus terrestris colonies at 106 agricultural sites across eight European countries confirm that the regulatory system fails to sufficiently prevent pesticide-related impacts on non-target organisms, even for a eusocial pollinator species in which colony size may buffer against such impacts
10,11. These findings support the need for postapproval monitoring of both pesticide exposure and effects to confirm that the regulatory process is sufficiently protective in limiting the collateral environmental damage of agricultural pesticide use.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Nature
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85177733958
  • pmid:38030722
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-023-06773-3
project
Exposure and Effects of Chemical Mixtures on Bees (MixToxBee) - Supporting Pesticide Monitoring and Bee Risk Assessment
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2023. The Author(s).
id
b3596d25-bffb-459c-b241-adf251f28982
date added to LUP
2023-12-04 22:07:30
date last changed
2024-04-17 23:19:26
@article{b3596d25-bffb-459c-b241-adf251f28982,
  abstract     = {{<p>Sustainable agriculture requires balancing crop yields with the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms, such as bees and other crop pollinators. Field studies demonstrated that agricultural use of neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect wild bee species<br>
 1,2, leading to restrictions on these compounds<br>
 3. However, besides neonicotinoids, field-based evidence of the effects of landscape pesticide exposure on wild bees is lacking. Bees encounter many pesticides in agricultural landscapes<br>
 4-9 and the effects of this landscape exposure on colony growth and development of any bee species remains unknown. Here we show that the many pesticides found in bumble bee-collected pollen are associated with reduced colony performance during crop bloom, especially in simplified landscapes with intensive agricultural practices. Our results from 316 Bombus terrestris colonies at 106 agricultural sites across eight European countries confirm that the regulatory system fails to sufficiently prevent pesticide-related impacts on non-target organisms, even for a eusocial pollinator species in which colony size may buffer against such impacts<br>
 10,11. These findings support the need for postapproval monitoring of both pesticide exposure and effects to confirm that the regulatory process is sufficiently protective in limiting the collateral environmental damage of agricultural pesticide use.<br>
 </p>}},
  author       = {{Nicholson, Charlie C and Knapp, Jessica and Kiljanek, Tomasz and Albrecht, Matthias and Chauzat, Marie-Pierre and Costa, Cecilia and De la Rúa, Pilar and Klein, Alexandra-Maria and Mänd, Marika and Potts, Simon G and Schweiger, Oliver and Bottero, Irene and Cini, Elena and de Miranda, Joachim R and Di Prisco, Gennaro and Dominik, Christophe and Hodge, Simon and Kaunath, Vera and Knauer, Anina and Laurent, Marion and Martínez-López, Vicente and Medrzycki, Piotr and Pereira-Peixoto, Maria Helena and Raimets, Risto and Schwarz, Janine M and Senapathi, Deepa and Tamburini, Giovanni and Brown, Mark J F and Stout, Jane C and Rundlöf, Maj}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06773-3}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-023-06773-3}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}