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Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Seed coating with a neonicotinoid insecticide negatively affects wild bees.

Author

  • Maj Rundlöf
  • Georg K.S. Andersson
  • Riccardo Bommarco
  • Ingemar Fries
  • Veronica Hederström
  • Lina Herbertsson
  • Ove Jonsson
  • Björn Klatt
  • Thorsten R Pedersen
  • Johanna Yourstone
  • Henrik Smith
Show all

Summary, in English

Understanding the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on bees is vital because of reported declines in bee diversity and distribution and the crucial role bees have as pollinators in ecosystems and agriculture. Neonicotinoids are suspected to pose an unacceptable risk to bees, partly because of their systemic uptake in plants, and the European Union has therefore introduced a moratorium on three neonicotinoids as seed coatings in flowering crops that attract bees. The moratorium has been criticized for being based on weak evidence, particularly because effects have mostly been measured on bees that have been artificially fed neonicotinoids. Thus, the key question is how neonicotinoids influence bees, and wild bees in particular, in real-world agricultural landscapes. Here we show that a commonly used insecticide seed coating in a flowering crop can have serious consequences for wild bees. In a study with replicated and matched landscapes, we found that seed coating with Elado, an insecticide containing a combination of the neonicotinoid clothianidin and the non-systemic pyrethroid β-cyfluthrin, applied to oilseed rape seeds, reduced wild bee density, solitary bee nesting, and bumblebee colony growth and reproduction under field conditions. Hence, such insecticidal use can pose a substantial risk to wild bees in agricultural landscapes, and the contribution of pesticides to the global decline of wild bees may have been underestimated. The lack of a significant response in honeybee colonies suggests that reported pesticide effects on honeybees cannot always be extrapolated to wild bees.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Biodiversity
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • Department of Biology
  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

77-162

Publication/Series

Nature

Volume

521

Issue

7550

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Ecology
  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Status

Published

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0028-0836