New research from Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University has raised concerns about the potential exposure of different bee species to multiple chemicals from two pesticide categories: neonicotinoids and fungicides. Taken in combination, these results raise significant concerns about the potential wide-spread exposure to multiple pesticides and previous studies have shown that when insecticides and fungicides are combined, the results may be more toxic than for each category alone.
Elena Zioga, Ph.D. Candidate in Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, is the first author of the just-published journal article. She said, "The results of this study are concerning on several levels. Of particularly great significance is the indication that different species seem to be exposed to pesticides differently based on the variation in the types and number of different pesticides found in pollen of honey and bumble bees respectively… It is also very worrying that the five neonicotinoids we looked for appeared in bumble bee pollen and not in crop pollen. Some of these pesticides, known to be particularly toxic, had not been applied in the fields we sampled for at least three years. This shows either that they persist for a long time in the field edges, where wildflowers grow, or that bees collected neonicotinoid-contaminated pollen from beyond the sampled fields….”
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