Residuos de plaguicidas en miel y cera de colonias de abejas de La Comarca Lagunera

Honeybees are important for food security and biodiversity preservation. There has been a collapse of the colonies caused by exposure to pesticides. The aim was to determine and quantify the presence of pesticides in honey and wax from bee colonies, under collapse (BC) and with (CA) and without antecedent of collapse (SA). Five honey samples and five colony wax samples were analyzed from colonies CA y SA, as well as two of honey and two wax from colonies CB; samples were analyzed by LC-QTOF and GCMS/ MS. 24 pesticides were detected in honey and wax analyzed. Acetamiprid was found in all samples. In colonies, CB the wax and honey had high averages levels of acetamiprid (0.402 and 0.633 mg kg-1 respectively). For wax and honey from colonies CA, the averages of acetamiprid were 0.686 and 0.266 mg kg-1 respectively. In wax and honey from colonies SA the averages of acetamiprid were 0.234 and 0.404 mg kg-1 respectively. In conclusion, the colonies CA had the greatest diversity of pesticides, followed by the group SA and finally BC. Our results suggest the participation of pesticides as a cause of colony collapsLas abejas melíferas son importantes para la seguridad alimentaria y el mantenimiento de la biodiversidad. Se ha presentado un colapso de las colonias ocasionado por la exposición a plaguicidas. El objetivo fue determinar y cuantificar la presencia de plaguicidas en miel y cera de colonias de abejas bajo colapso (BC), con (CA) y sin antecedentes de colapso (SA). Se analizaron cinco muestras de miel y cinco de cera de colonias CA y SA, así como dos de miel y de cera BC; las muestras fueron analizadas por LC-QTOF y GCMS/ MS. Se detectaron en total 24 plaguicidas en miel y cera. El acetamiprid se encontró en el 100% de las muestras. En las colonias BC, presentaron en promedio altos niveles de acetamiprid en cera y miel (0.402 y 0.633 mg kg-1 respectivamente). Para las colonias CA, los promedios de acetamiprid fueron 0.686 y 0.266 mg kg-1 para cera y miel respectivamente, en las colonias SA, los promedios del acetamiprid en cera y miel fueron 0.234 y 0.404 mg kg-1 respectivamente. En conclusión, las colonias CA presentaron la mayor diversidad de plaguicidas seguidas por SA y BC. Estos resultados podrían sugerir la participación de los plaguicidas como causa del colapso de las colonias

Boron and Coumaphos Residues in Hive Materials Following Treatments for the Control of <i>Aethina tumida</i> Murray

<div><p>In the search of alternatives for controlling <i>Aethina tumida</i> Murray, we recently proposed the BAA trap which uses boric acid and an attractant which mimics the process of fermentation caused by <i>Kodamaea ohmeri</i> in the hive. This yeast is excreted in the feces of <i>A. tumida</i> causing the fermentation of pollen and honey of infested hives and releasing compounds that function as aggregation pheromones to <i>A. tumida</i>. Since the boron is the toxic element in boric acid, the aim of this article is to assess the amount of boron residues in honey and beeswax from hives treated with the BAA trap. For this aim, the amount of bioaccumulated boron in products of untreated hives was first determined and then compared with the amount of boron of products from hives treated with the BAA trap in two distinct climatic and soil conditions. The study was conducted in the cities of Padilla, Tamaulipas, and Valladolid, Yucatan (Mexico) from August 2014 to March 2015. The quantity of boron in honey was significantly less in Yucatan than in Tamaulipas; this agrees with the boron deficiency among Luvisol and Leptosol soils found in Yucatan compared to the Vertisol soil found in Tamaulipas. In fact, the honey from Yucatan has lower boron levels than those reported in the literature. The BAA treatment was applied for four months, results show that the BAA trap does not have any residual effect in either honey or wax; i.e., there is no significant difference in boron content before and after treatment. On the other hand, the organophosphate pesticide coumaphos was found in 100% of wax samples and in 64% of honey samples collected from Yucatan. The concentration of coumaphos in honey ranges from 0.005 to 0.040 mg/kg, which are below Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) allowed in the European Union (0.1 mg/kg) but 7.14% of samples exceeded the MRL allowed in Canada (0.02 mg/kg).</p></div

Pre-and post-treatment levels of boron in samples collected from Tamaulipas.

<p>Data are presented as mean ± SE (mg/kg).</p

Conversion factors to equivalent doses of boron [13].

<p>Conversion factors to equivalent doses of boron [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0153551#pone.0153551.ref013" target="_blank">13</a>].</p

BAA Trap.

<p>(a) trap case: black to offer protection against light, dimensions 125 × 143 × 12 mm and with windows of 3.0 × 40.0 mm to prevent access by bees, (b) prepared bait, (b) four snaps for sealing, and (d) scale.</p

Geographic location.

<p>(a) Map of Mexico showing the two sampling sites. (b) Sampling sites (filled circles) in Padilla, Tamaulipas, Mexico. (c) Sampling sites (red circles) in Yucatan, Mexico.</p

Proportion of samples with coumaphos residues detected above the Limit of Quantification (LOQ) of 0.005; it also shows the concentration range, median and 75% percentile of total samples.

<p>Proportion of samples with coumaphos residues detected above the Limit of Quantification (LOQ) of 0.005; it also shows the concentration range, median and 75% percentile of total samples.</p