Abstract
The statistical power of studies for the assessment of side effects of toxicants on honeybees conducted according to current guidelines is often limited. A new test design and modified field methods have therefore been developed to decrease uncertainty and variability and to be able to detect small effects. The new test design comprises a monitoring phase (before the tunnel phase) for the selection of honeybee colonies and modified methods, which include assessments of colony strength, an evaluation of the cell content of all cells of hives using photos and digital analysis, and the use of video recordings for the assessment of foraging activity and forager mortality. With the proposed new study design and the modified field methods variability between hives was considerably reduced, which resulted in a marked reduction of the minimum detectable difference (MDD). This makes it possible to address the Specific Protection Goals defined by the European Food Safety Authority and to gain unprecedented insight into the development of hives and driving factors.
Highlights
The aim of this assessment was to understand to what extent brood termination rate (BTR)depends on the number of cells that are evaluated
Programmable video cameras were placed above the entrance of hives (Figure 1)
A white landing board is used to facilitate the distinction of bees from the background
Summary
Colony strength was estimated by weight (Table 1), photography of adult bees (Table 2) and by visual estimation (Liebefelder), as recommended by OECD 75 (Table 3). 3. Impact of the application of the reference substance on forager mortality obtained from dead bee traps, sheets and video analysis. The underlying data and counts in traps and sheets are provided in Table 4 and 5.
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