pesticide threatens colony
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

By attacking queen bumblebee

Pesticide threatens colony

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Pesticide threatens colony

insecticide affects bees
Paris - Arabs Today

A common pesticide used on crops compromises a queen bumblebee's ability to lay eggs, threatening her colony with extinction, according to a study released Monday.

Lab experiments used doses of thiamethoxam -- one of the controversial neonicotinoid family -- that corresponded to what a queen bee might encounter in the wild.

Exposure to the chemical shifted the timing of colony formation and reduced the number of eggs by more than quarter, the researchers said.

"This showed that the impacts of neonicotinoids on colony founding -- by itself -- significantly increases the risk of an exposed bumblebee population going extinct," Mark Brown, a professor at the University of London and co-author of the study, told AFP.

The chance of colony collapse is at least 28 percent, he said.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are widely used in agriculture, but recent studies have suggested a strong link with declining bee populations, especially over the last decade.

As a result, in 2013 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) imposed a partial, temporary moratorium on their use, pending the result of a review scheduled for completion later this year.

But scientists are still trying to pinpoint how the insecticide affects bees, which are crucial for the pollination of crops ranging from almonds and apples to peaches and plums.

The new findings, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, highlight a plausible scenario.

"Previous studies have ignored a key aspect of the bumblebee life-cycle, which is the colony founding stage," Brown said.

"As successful colony founding is key to the size of bumblebee populations, and bumblebee queens feed on crops and plants that can be contaminated by neonicotinoids, this life-cycle stage could be key in understanding the impacts of neonicotinoids."

Bumblebee queens already face a multiple hurdles in starting a new colony.

If they manage to survive the winter -- during which that can shed 80 percent of their fat reserves -- they must still confront parasites, predators, bad weather and a lack of food.

Coping with insecticides may be a threat too many, the researchers said.

"These pesticides can have a devastating effect on bees, and we urgently need to know more about how pesticides could be affecting other species," said co-author Nigel Raine from the University of Guelph in Canada.

A global review last November concluded that some 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops depend on pollinators, mainly bees.

There are some 20,000 species of bees responsible for fertilising more than 90 percent of the world's 107 major crops.

Last year, the United Nations said 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators -- particularly bees and butterflies -- risk global extinction.

So-called "colony collapse disorder" has been blamed on mites, a virus or fungus, pesticides, or a combination of factors.

Neonicotinoids -- lab-synthesised pesticides based on the chemical structure of nicotine -- appeared also to be linked to declines of butterflies, birds and aquatic insects.

Widely used to treat flowering crops, they are designed to be absorbed by the growing plant and attack the nervous system of insect pests.

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

pesticide threatens colony pesticide threatens colony

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

pesticide threatens colony pesticide threatens colony

 



GMT 13:42 2015 Saturday ,04 April

Libyan warplane targets camp in Gharyan town

GMT 15:14 2017 Wednesday ,01 March

UN documents nearly 1,500 child soldiers in Yemen

GMT 07:24 2017 Sunday ,01 October

Mexico unlikely to find more quake survivors

GMT 16:15 2015 Wednesday ,11 November

German intelligence 'spied' on Fabius, FBI, UN bodies

GMT 01:32 2017 Saturday ,15 April

Russia's Putin earns about 157,000 USD in 2016

GMT 16:30 2017 Saturday ,15 July

Minister of planning gives priority

GMT 19:45 2017 Wednesday ,05 April

President of Senegal Meets Attorney General

GMT 05:18 2017 Thursday ,21 September

Over 80 missing after migrant boat sinks off Libya

GMT 19:22 2017 Saturday ,01 April

UN: Number of Syrian Refugees Tops 5 million

GMT 15:16 2016 Thursday ,29 September

FBI to put up database on police use of deadly force

GMT 05:06 2016 Friday ,30 September

Indian markets open flat

GMT 01:57 2017 Tuesday ,10 October

Twin suicide bombs kill 13 near Mogadishu airport

GMT 02:25 2017 Friday ,08 September

UAE celebrates National Day at Expo 2017 Astana

GMT 06:19 2017 Sunday ,08 January

Bleaching poses the gravest threat to coral reefs

GMT 12:35 2017 Monday ,18 September

Elham Shahin happy for “Day for Women”

GMT 09:46 2017 Thursday ,22 June

US existing home sales unexpectedly rise in May

GMT 02:36 2017 Tuesday ,10 January

US embassy condemns Al-Arish suicide attack

GMT 10:34 2017 Sunday ,26 November

czar faces graft probe
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday