Abstract
Amidst ongoing declines in honey bee health, the contributory role of the newer systemic insecticides continues to be intensely debated. Scores of toxicological field experiments, which bee scientists and regulators in the United States have looked to for definitive causal evidence, indicate a lack of support. This paper analyzes the methodological norms that shape the design and interpretation of field toxicological studies. I argue that contemporary field studies of honey bees and pesticides are underpinned by a “control-oriented” approach, which precludes a serious investigation of the indirect and multifactorial ways in which pesticides could drive declines in honey bee health. I trace the historical rise to prominence of this approach in honey bee toxicology to the development of entomology as a science of insecticide development in the United States. Drawing on “complexity-oriented” knowledge practices in ecology, epidemiology, beekeeping and sociology, I suggest an alternative socio-ecological systems approach, which would entail in situ studies that are less concerned with isolating individual factors and more attentive to the interactive and place-based mix of factors affecting honey bee health.
Highlights
The viability of multiple agricultural crops and broader ecosystems is threatened by unsustainable declines in the populations of honey bees and other insect pollinators in North America and elsewhere [1±3]
Drawing on 3complexity-orientedknowledge practices in ecology, epidemiology, beekeeping and sociology, I suggest an alternative socio-ecological systems approach, which would entail in situ studies that are less concerned with isolating individual factors and more attentive to the interactive and place-based mix of factors affecting honey bee health
Argued here that a set of 3control-orientedtoxicological research norms and practices, which emphasize the isolation of individual causal factors and their direct effects, have come to dominate field investigations of the links between pesticides and honey bee health
Summary
The viability of multiple agricultural crops and broader ecosystems is threatened by unsustainable declines in the populations of honey bees and other insect pollinators in North America and elsewhere [1±3]. Beginning in the winter of 2004±2005, many beekeeping operations across the U.S, especially those involved in crop pollination, experienced unprecedented losses between 30±90% of their managed honey bee hives. The current consensus among scientists is that accelerated hive losses are being caused by a combination of multiple factors, including certain agricultural pesticides, beekeeper-applied chemicals, poor nutrition, microbial pathogens and parasites [6]. Which of these factors or sets of factors play a more prominent role in causing CCD remains uncertain, with the influence of some newer kinds of agricultural insecticides being a major source of controversy
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