Recently, the insect evolution and genomics research group of the Institute of Honey Bee, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has studied the individual or combined virulence of three insecticides, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and chlorpyrifos, which are commonly found in pollen and nectar, on Bumblebees. The individual toxicity of pesticides to Bumblebee was significantly lower than their combined toxicity. The results were published in Scientific Reports.
In modern agricultural production, pesticides are widely used to protect crops from pests and diseases. However, the large residues of these pesticides in soil, water, and pollen pose a threat to the survival of non-target organisms, especially pollinators such as bees, whose main food sources are pollen and nectar. As one of the important pollinators, the bumblebee plays a vital role in agricultural production and maintaining the diversity of the ecosystem. The widespread use of pesticides is considered to be one of the important reasons for the decline of bumblebee populations and numbers. Previous studies have focused on the effects of a single pesticide on the bumblebee, and there are few reports on the combined toxicity of multiple pesticides to bumblebees.
In this study, Bumblebee was used as the experimental material, and imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and chlorpyrifos, which were most frequently detected in pollen and nectar, were the main research objects. Acute oral toxicity of the bumblebee. The study found that the acute oral toxicity of each pesticide to Bumblebee was imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and chlorpyrifos in descending order, and the combined toxicity of all pesticides showed a synergistic additive effect. The study showed that the combined toxicity of pesticides with different mechanisms of action was significantly higher than that of a single pesticide, which provided a theoretical basis for the proposal of bumblebee protection strategies.
This research was funded by the basic operating expenses of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.