Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Health and Environmental Effects Assessment Division, Integrated Health Assessment Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27711, USA.
Retired, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, 06504, USA.
Environ Pollut. 2023 Sep 15;333:122037. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122037. Epub 2023 Jun 20.
Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are one of the most important managed pollinators of agricultural crops. While potential effects of agricultural pesticides on honey bee health have been investigated in some settings, risks to honey bees associated with exposures occurring in the plant nursery setting have received little attention. We sought to identify and quantify pesticide levels present in honey bee-collected pollen harvested in two ornamental plant nurseries (i.e., Nursery A and Nursery B) in Connecticut. From June to September 2018, pollen was collected weekly from 8 colonies using bottom-mounted pollen traps. Fifty-five unique pesticides (including related metabolites) were detected: 24 insecticides, 20 fungicides, and 11 herbicides. Some of the pesticide contaminants detected in the pollen had not been applied by the nurseries, indicating that the honey bee colonies did not exclusively forage on pollen at their respective nursery. The average number of pesticides per sample was similar at both nurseries (i.e., 12.9 at Nursery A and 14.2 at Nursery B). To estimate the potential risk posed to honey bees from these samples, we utilized the USEPA's BeeREX tool to calculate risk quotients (RQs) for each pesticide within each sample. The median aggregate RQ for nurse bees was 0.003 at both nurseries, well below the acute risk level of concern (LOC) of ≥0.4. We also calculated RQs for larvae due to their increased sensitivity to certain pesticides. In total, 6 samples had larval RQs above the LOC (0.45-2.51), resulting from the organophosphate insecticide diazinon. Since 2015, the frequency and amount of diazinon detected in pollen increased at one of our study locations, potentially due to pressure to reduce the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. Overall, these data highlight the importance of considering all life stages when estimating potential risk to honey bee colonies from pesticide exposure.
意大利蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）是农业作物最重要的管理传粉媒介之一。虽然在某些情况下已经研究了农业农药对蜜蜂健康的潜在影响，但植物苗圃环境中蜜蜂接触农药的风险却很少受到关注。我们试图确定并量化康涅狄格州两个观赏苗圃（即苗圃 A 和苗圃 B）中蜜蜂采集的花粉中存在的农药水平。从 2018 年 6 月到 9 月，每周使用底部安装的花粉陷阱从 8 个蜂群中收集花粉。共检测到 55 种独特的农药（包括相关代谢物）：24 种杀虫剂、20 种杀菌剂和 11 种除草剂。在花粉中检测到的一些农药污染物并没有被苗圃使用，这表明蜜蜂群体并不完全在各自的苗圃中采集花粉。两个苗圃的每个样本中的农药数量相似（即，苗圃 A 为 12.9，苗圃 B 为 14.2）。为了评估这些样本对蜜蜂的潜在风险，我们利用美国环保署的 BeeREX 工具来计算每个样本中每种农药的风险商数 (RQ)。两个苗圃的蜂群平均综合 RQ 均为 0.003，远低于关注的急性风险水平 (LOC)≥0.4。我们还计算了幼虫的 RQ，因为它们对某些农药更加敏感。共有 6 个样本的幼虫 RQ 高于 LOC（0.45-2.51），这是由于有机磷杀虫剂二嗪农造成的。自 2015 年以来，在我们的一个研究地点，二嗪农在花粉中的检出频率和数量增加，这可能是由于减少使用新烟碱类杀虫剂的压力所致。总的来说，这些数据强调了在估计蜜蜂群体因接触农药而产生潜在风险时，考虑所有生命阶段的重要性。
