Effect of Insecticide-Treated Crops on Bees
September 12, 2017
From: ChemistryViews
- Author: ChemistryViews.org
- Published: 12 September 2017
- Copyright: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA
- Source / Publisher: Environmental Science & Technology/ACS Publications
- Associated Societies: American Chemical Society (ACS), USA
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The team found that the colonies of bumble bees were not significantly affected by the distance from the insecticide-treated plants. They attribute this to the fact that any negative effects of the insecticide could be offset by improved food supply. For the honey bees, the survival of the colonies and the queen bees was also unaffected. However, there was a small negative effect of the neonicotinoid-treated plants on the colonies’ weight gain and on honey contamination. According to the researchers, these results put into question whether neonicotinoids are an important factor in the ongoing decline of bee populations.
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