LUNAM Université, Oniris, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire, Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation Nantes-Atlantique, Plateforme Environnementale Vétérinaire, Centre Vétérinaire de la Faune Sauvage et des Ecosystèmes des Pays de la Loire (CVFSE), Nantes, France.
PLoS One. 2013 Jun 17;8(6):e67007. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067007. Print 2013.
The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is frequently used as a sentinel to monitor environmental pollution. In parallel, general weakening and unprecedented colony losses have been reported in Europe and the USA, and many factors are suspected to play a central role in these problems, including infection by pathogens, nutritional stress and pesticide poisoning. Honey bee, honey and pollen samples collected from eighteen apiaries of western France from four different landscape contexts during four different periods in 2008 and in 2009 were analyzed to evaluate the presence of pesticides and veterinary drug residues.
METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS: A multi-residue analysis of 80 compounds was performed using a modified QuEChERS method, followed by GC-ToF and LC-MS/MS. The analysis revealed that 95.7%, 72.3% and 58.6% of the honey, honey bee and pollen samples, respectively, were contaminated by at least one compound. The frequency of detection was higher in the honey samples (n = 28) than in the pollen (n = 23) or honey bee (n = 20) samples, but the highest concentrations were found in pollen. Although most compounds were rarely found, some of the contaminants reached high concentrations that might lead to adverse effects on bee health. The three most frequent residues were the widely used fungicide carbendazim and two acaricides, amitraz and coumaphos, that are used by beekeepers to control Varroa destructor. Apiaries in rural-cultivated landscapes were more contaminated than those in other landscape contexts, but the differences were not significant. The contamination of the different matrices was shown to be higher in early spring than in all other periods.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Honey bees, honeys and pollens are appropriate sentinels for monitoring pesticide and veterinary drug environmental pollution. This study revealed the widespread occurrence of multiple residues in beehive matrices and suggests a potential issue with the effects of these residues alone or in combination on honey bee health.
蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）常被用作监测环境污染的哨兵。与此同时，欧洲和美国报告称蜜蜂群体出现了前所未有的衰弱和大量损失，许多因素被怀疑在这些问题中起着核心作用，包括病原体感染、营养压力和农药中毒。本研究于 2008 年和 2009 年在四个不同时期，从法国西部 18 个养蜂场的四个不同景观背景中采集了蜜蜂、蜂蜜和花粉样本，分析这些样本以评估农药和兽药残留的存在情况。
方法/结果：采用改良的 QuEChERS 方法对 80 种化合物进行多残留分析，然后采用 GC-ToF 和 LC-MS/MS 进行分析。分析结果显示，蜂蜜、蜜蜂和花粉样本中分别有 95.7%、72.3%和 58.6%至少受到一种化合物的污染。在蜂蜜样本（n=28）中的检出频率高于花粉样本（n=23）或蜜蜂样本（n=20），但浓度最高的是花粉。虽然大多数污染物很少见，但一些污染物的浓度较高，可能会对蜜蜂健康产生不利影响。三种最常见的残留物是广泛使用的杀菌剂多菌灵以及两种杀螨剂双甲脒和残杀威，养蜂人用它们来控制瓦螨。与其他景观背景相比，农村耕作景观中的养蜂场污染更为严重，但差异不显著。不同基质的污染情况显示，春季早期的污染高于其他时期。
结论/意义：蜜蜂、蜂蜜和花粉是监测环境中农药和兽药污染的合适哨兵。本研究揭示了蜂箱基质中多种残留物的广泛存在，并表明这些残留物单独或联合对蜜蜂健康的潜在影响。
