Plant Research International, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Ecotoxicology. 2012 May;21(4):973-92. doi: 10.1007/s10646-012-0863-x. Epub 2012 Feb 18.
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 different key aspects determining the risks of neonicotinoid field concentrations for bee populations: (1) the environmental neonicotinoid residue levels in plants, bees and bee products in relation to pesticide application, (2) the reported side-effects with special attention for sublethal effects, and (3) the usefulness for the evaluation of neonicotinoids of an already existing risk assessment scheme for systemic compounds. Although environmental residue levels of neonicotinoids were found to be lower than acute/chronic toxicity levels, there is still a lack of reliable data as most analyses were conducted near the detection limit and for only few crops. Many laboratory studies described lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids on the foraging behavior, and learning and memory abilities of bees, while no effects were observed in field studies at field-realistic dosages. The proposed risk assessment scheme for systemic compounds was shown to be applicable to assess the risk for side-effects of neonicotinoids as it considers the effect on different life stages and different levels of biological organization (organism versus colony). Future research studies should be conducted with field-realistic concentrations, relevant exposure and evaluation durations. Molecular markers may be used to improve risk assessment by a better understanding of the mode of action (interaction with receptors) of neonicotinoids in bees leading to the identification of environmentally safer compounds.
新烟碱类杀虫剂成功地应用于控制各种农作物中的害虫；然而，它们不仅可能影响害虫昆虫，而且还可能影响非目标生物，如传粉媒介。本综述首次总结了 15 年来关于新烟碱类对蜜蜂（包括西方蜜蜂、熊蜂和独居蜂）危害的研究，重点关注三个不同的关键方面，确定新烟碱类田间浓度对蜜蜂种群的风险：（1）与施药有关的植物、蜜蜂和蜜蜂产品中的环境新烟碱类残留水平，（2）特别注意亚致死效应的报告副作用，以及（3）评估新烟碱类化合物的现有系统化合物风险评估方案的有用性。尽管环境中新烟碱类的残留水平低于急性/慢性毒性水平，但仍缺乏可靠的数据，因为大多数分析是在接近检测限的情况下进行的，而且只针对少数几种作物进行了分析。许多实验室研究描述了新烟碱类对蜜蜂觅食行为、学习和记忆能力的致死和亚致死效应，而在田间实际剂量的田间研究中未观察到效应。拟议的系统化合物风险评估方案被证明适用于评估新烟碱类化合物的副作用风险，因为它考虑了对不同生命阶段和不同水平的生物组织（个体与群体）的影响。未来的研究应在田间实际浓度、相关暴露和评估时间下进行。分子标记物可用于通过更好地了解新烟碱类在蜜蜂中的作用模式（与受体的相互作用）来改进风险评估，从而鉴定出环境更安全的化合物。
