Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2415 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA; School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2415 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Nov 20;952:175935. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175935. Epub 2024 Aug 30.
Wild bees pollinate crops and wildflowers where they are frequently exposed to pesticides. Neonicotinoids are the most commonly used insecticide globally, but restrictions on their use and rising pest resistance have increased the demand for alternative pesticides. Flupyradifurone is a novel insecticide that has been licenced globally for use on bee-visited crops. Here, in a semi-field experiment, we exposed solitary bees (Osmia lignaria) to a commercial pesticide formulation (Sivanto Prime) containing flupyradifurone at label-recommended rates. We originally designed the experiment to examine sublethal effects, but contrary to our expectations, 100 % of bees released into pesticide-treated cages died within 3 days of exposure, compared to 0 % in control plots. Bees exposed to flupyradifurone a few days after the initial application survived but endured prolonged sublethal effects, including lower nesting success, impairment to foraging efficiency, and higher mortality. These results demonstrate that exposure to this novel insecticide poses significant threats to solitary bees and add to a growing body of evidence indicating that this pesticide can have negative impacts on wild bees at field-realistic concentrations. In the short-term, we recommend that commercial formulations containing flupyradifurone should be restricted to non-flowering crops while a reassessment of its safety can be conducted. In the long-term, environmental risk assessors should continue to develop risk assessments that are truly holistic and incorporate the ecological and life history traits of multiple pollinator species.
野生蜜蜂在为作物和野花授粉时，经常会接触到农药。新烟碱类杀虫剂是全球使用最广泛的杀虫剂，但对其使用的限制以及害虫抗药性的上升，增加了对替代杀虫剂的需求。氟吡呋喃酮是一种新型杀虫剂，已在全球范围内获得许可，可用于有蜜蜂光顾的作物。在这里，在半田间实验中，我们将独居蜜蜂（ Osmia lignaria ）暴露于含有氟吡呋喃酮的商业农药制剂（ Sivanto Prime ）中，使用推荐的标签剂量。我们最初设计该实验是为了检查亚致死效应，但与我们的预期相反，暴露于施药笼中的蜜蜂在接触后 3 天内全部死亡，而对照区的蜜蜂则为 0%。几天内接触氟吡呋喃酮的蜜蜂幸存下来，但遭受了长期的亚致死效应，包括筑巢成功率降低、觅食效率受损和死亡率升高。这些结果表明，接触这种新型杀虫剂对独居蜜蜂构成了重大威胁，并增加了越来越多的证据表明，这种杀虫剂在田间实际浓度下会对野生蜜蜂产生负面影响。在短期内，我们建议含有氟吡呋喃酮的商业制剂应仅限于非开花作物，同时对其安全性进行重新评估。从长远来看，环境风险评估人员应继续开发真正全面的风险评估，并纳入多种传粉媒介物种的生态和生活史特征。
