3 research outputs found
A meta-analysis comparing the sensitivity of bees to pesticides
The honey beeApis mellifera, the test species
used in the current environmental risk assessment procedure, is generally considered as extremely sensitive to
pesticides when compared to other bee species, although a
quantitative approach for comparing the difference in
sensitivity among bees has not yet been reported. A systematic review of the relevant literature on the topic followed by a meta-analysis has been performed. Both the
contact and oral acute LD50and the chronic LC50reported
in laboratory studies for as many substances as possible
have been extracted from the papers in order to compare
the sensitivity to pesticides of honey bees and other bee
species (Apiformes). The sensitivity ratio R between the
endpoint for the speciesa(A. mellifera) and the species
s(bees other thanA. mellifera) was calculated for a total of
150 case studies including 19 bee species. A ratio higher than 1 indicated that the species s was more sensitive to
pesticides than honey bees. The meta-analysis showed a
high variability of sensitivity among bee species (Rfrom
0.001 to 2085.7), however, in approximately 95 % of the
cases the sensitivity ratio was below 10. The effect of
pesticides in domestic and wild bees is dependent on the
intrinsic sensitivity of single bee species as well as their
specific life cycle, nesting activity and foraging behaviour.
Current data indicates a need for more comparative information between honey bees and non-Apisbees as well as
separate pesticide risk assessment procedures for non-Apis
bees