Honeybees

Neonicotinoid insecticides are used as seed treatments on most grain and oilseed crops in the U.S., yet the extent and likelihood of spread of insecticide residues during planting has not previously been quantified. Honeybees are the best model for estimating exposures in mobile insects. We measured neonicotinoid dust drift during maize sowing and used sites of maize fields, apiary locations, and honeybee foraging radii to estimate likelihood of forager exposure. We performed a concurrent multiyear field assessment of the pest-management benefits of neonicotinoid-treated maize.

Scientists have described 1 million species of insects so far, and estimate that at least 4 million species worldwide are still unrecorded. For people living in areas with ample wilderness and a plethora of biting mosquitoes that carry malaria and other diseases, a decline in insect populations might seem like an outlandish concern. But in areas with intensive industrialized agriculture, the drop in insect populations is worrying.

Bereits im Jahr 1962 wurde von Rachel Carson der stumme Frühling vorhergesagt, wenn die Industrialisierung der Landwirtschaft und die Nutzung von Chemikalien auf den Äckern fortschreiten: Ein Frühling ohne das vertraute Summen von Bienen, Hummeln, Fliegen, Käfern und anderen Insekten. Dieses Szenario droht nun Wirklichkeit zu werden, wenn wir nicht sofort handeln.

Studies on the risks of neonicotinoids have often focused on bees — pollinators vital to farm production that have been experiencing population declines — but “it’s really not just about bees,” said Christy Morrissey, a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan.

In the early 2000s, Italian beekeepers began to report bee mortality events linked to maize sowing. Evidence pointed to three neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam) and a phenylpyrazole (fipronil) used for seed dressing that were dispersed in the environment during sowing. Following these events and based on the precautionary principle, in September 2008, the Italian Ministry of Health suspended these four active ingredients as maize seed dressing.

Honeybees -- employed to pollinate crops during the blooming season -- encounter danger due to lingering and wandering pesticides, according to a new Cornell University study that analyzed the bee's own food. Researchers used 120 pristine honeybee colonies that were placed near 30 apple orchards around New York state. After allowing the bees to forage for several days during the apple flowering period, the scientists examined each hive's "beebread" -- the bees' food stores made from gathered pollen -- to search for traces of pesticides.

Die stille Harmonie der gelb-schwarzen Insekten gibt es nur noch in alten Kinderliedern. Tatsächlich kämpfen nicht nur die deutschen, sondern auch die europäischen Bienen ums Überleben. Als im Vormonat der Imkerverband zur Jahrestagung nach Berlin lud, machten erschreckende Zahlen die Runde: Von den etwa 700.000 Bienenvölkern, die der Verband hierzulande bisher zählte, haben rund 120.000 den Winter nicht überlebt. Auch wenn daran eingeschleppte Parasiten wie die Varroa-Milbe nicht ganz unbeteiligt ist, geben viele Fachleute Pestiziden eine erhebliche Mitschuld.

One of the most dangerous pesticides, neonicotinoids, has been found in drinking water, a new study reveals. Neonicotinoids, most of which were released in the 1990s, were designed to be the most environmentally-friendly chemicals on the market and soon became the most widely used, especially in the Midwest. The compounds don't just coat leaves and stems but work their way into plant tissue, meaning fewer sprays are needed. But the neonics, as they are nicknamed, became reputable for being something else - a bee killer, wreaking havoc on insect nervous systems.