Abstract
Trials were conducted to investigate the attractiveness of cotton to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), and bee mortality resulting from insecticide applications to cotton near Emerald, central Queensland. Bees died at hives sited within 3 km of sprayed, flowering cotton on two occasions. Methyl-parathion was identified in dead bees and in pollen taken from hives on one occasion. Dimethoate residues were detected in dead bees at the same site after application of this chemical to cotton. Bee foraging in areas exposed to spraying was implicated as leading to the mortality, rather than drift to the hive site, as two of the five hives did not have increased deaths on either occasion. Bees were shown to collect nectar and pollen from cotton flowers. Numbers peaked at an average of 17.5 bees per 100 m of crop row in February on an unsprayed trial in southeastern Queensland.
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