Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano, 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano, 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Sep 1;837:155714. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155714. Epub 2022 May 4.
As synthetic pesticides play a major role in pollinator decline worldwide, biopesticides have been gaining increased attention to develop more sustainable methods for pest management in agriculture. These biocontrol agents are usually considered as safe for non-target species, such as pollinators. Unfortunately, when it comes to non-target insects, only the acute or chronic effects on survival following exposure to biopesticides are tested. Although international boards have highlighted the need to include also behavioral and morphophysiological traits when assessing risks of plant protection products on pollinators, no substantial concerns have been raised about the risks associated with sublethal exposure to these substances. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the studies investigating the potential adverse effects of biopesticides on different taxa of pollinators (bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and wasps). We highlight the fragmentary knowledge on this topic and the lack of a systematic investigation of these negative effects of biopesticides on insect pollinators. We show that all the major classes of biopesticides, besides their direct toxicity, can also cause a plethora of more subtle detrimental effects in both solitary and social species of pollinators. Although research in this field is growing, the current risk assesment approach does not suffice to properly assess all the potential side-effects that these agents of control may have on pollinating insects. Given the urgent need for a sustainable agriculture and wildlife protection, it appears compelling that these so far neglected detrimental effects should be thoroughly assessed before allegedly safe biopesticides can be used in the field and, in this view, we provide a perspective for future directions.
由于合成农药在全球范围内对传粉媒介的减少起着重要作用，生物农药越来越受到关注，以开发更可持续的农业害虫管理方法。这些生物防治剂通常被认为对非目标物种（如传粉媒介）是安全的。不幸的是，当涉及到非目标昆虫时，仅测试了接触生物农药后对生存的急性或慢性影响。尽管国际委员会强调在评估植物保护产品对传粉媒介的风险时还需要包括行为和形态生理学特征，但对于与这些物质亚致死接触相关的风险尚未引起实质性关注。在这里，我们全面回顾了研究生物农药对不同传粉媒介类群（蜜蜂、蝴蝶、蛾、甲虫、蝇和黄蜂）潜在不利影响的研究。我们强调了在这个主题上知识的零碎性，以及缺乏对生物农药对昆虫传粉媒介这些负面影响的系统调查。我们表明，除了直接毒性外，所有主要类别的生物农药还可以在独居和群居的传粉媒介物种中引起大量更微妙的有害影响。尽管该领域的研究正在不断增加，但目前的风险评估方法不足以正确评估这些控制剂可能对传粉昆虫产生的所有潜在副作用。鉴于对可持续农业和野生动物保护的迫切需求，似乎有必要在据称安全的生物农药可在田间使用之前，对这些迄今为止被忽视的有害影响进行彻底评估，为此，我们为未来的方向提供了一个视角。
