- Title
- A common pesticide decreases foraging success and survival in honey bees: questioning the ecological relevance
- Creator
- Guez, David
- Relation
- Frontiers in Physiology Vol. 4, p. 1-3
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2013.00037
- Publisher
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- In a recent paper, Henry et al. (2012; supplemental material April 20, 2012) address the important issue of honeybee sublethal effects induced by systemic insecticides as a potential causal factor of colony collapse disorder (CCD). To evaluate mortality resulting from homing failure of foraging bees (mhf), Henry et al. (2012) employed radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchips to track free-ranging honey bees and then combined their mhf values with a colony dynamics model proposed by Khoury et al. (2011). By comparing thiamethoxam-treated and control groups they found that exposed bees were more likely to die while away from their hives. By combining the observed experimental results and model projection, the authors argue that thiamethoxam seed treatment could constitute a potential cause of CCD. Henry et al.'s (2012) work addresses a very important area and raises some imperative issues with regards to the potential of pesticides to negatively impact upon honeybee behavior. However, its ecotoxicological and ecological significance is compromised by experimental design flaws which, if left unchallenged, could negatively impact upon future and similar ecotoxicological studies. Here I address problematic areas in the experimental design of Henry et al. (2012) and argue that whilst their work addresses a very important field of study, their conclusions are not sufficiently supported and therefore cannot be taken as ecologically relevant in this instance.
- Subject
- honeybees; thiamethoxam; colony collapse disorder (CCD); foraging behavior
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1300244
- Identifier
- uon:20035
- Identifier
- ISSN:1664-042X
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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