Abstract
Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are excellent biosensors that can be managed to collect valuable information about environmental contamination. The main objective of the present study was to design and apply an integrative protocol to monitor honeybee colony activity and sample collection by using electronic technologies combined with classical methods in order to evaluate the exposure of honeybees to the neonicotinoids that are used in melliferous intensive crops. The monitored honeybee colonies were especially prepared and equipped to maximize their chances to collect representative samples in order to express, as well as possible, the pesticide residues that existed in the targeted crops. The samples of honey, pollen and honeybees were collected, preserved and prepared to fulfill the required quality and quantity criteria of the accredited laboratories. In total, a set of fifty samples was collected from fields, located in different areas of intensive agriculture in Romania, and was analyzed for five neonicotinoids. The obtained results show that 48% of the total analyzed samples (n = 50) contained one or more detected or quantified neonicotinoid residues. The main conclusion is that the proposed approach for sample collection and preparation could improve the evaluation methodologies for analyzing honeybees’ exposure to pesticides.
Highlights
The insect pollination is one of the most important services that sustains biodiversity and food production
The 2018 beekeeping season was generally a weak active season for Romania in terms of honey production, this situation being registered in the monitored locations by means of the electronic hives
The results showed that imidacloprid was present in a concentration of 0.1 ng/bee, as well as under the limit of quantification (LOQ) in these locations
Summary
The insect pollination is one of the most important services that sustains biodiversity and food production. Older research in Romania [4] showed the following pollinators’ participation in stone tree pollination: honeybees—76.6%; bumblebees—7.6%; flies—3.7%; ants—3.6%; beetles—3.5%; wild bees—2.5%; wasps—0.5%; and other insects—2%. Due to their complex biology (social life, reproduction, nutrition etc.) and intimate connection to climatic and vegetation conditions, honeybees are a natural biosensor of environmental quality [5,6,7,8,9]. Some of their special behaviors make honeybees a special pollinator: they exclusively feed on nectar and pollen; there is a high number of individuals in a colony, which leads to large quantities of food storage; they have the big ray of forage flight (0–5 km); their “flower fidelity” behavior makes them an efficient pollinator for a certain plant species at a certain moment; they visit many flowers based on the quality and quantity of nectar secretion; they have good orientation, memory and communication
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
