Pesticides and Agricultural Impacts

  • Neonicotinoids are the most common agricultural insecticides that have blamed for playing a part in bee loss

  • Agricultural intensification does not allow for diverse bee diets and is a broken system

  • Today, some pesticides are used in an effort to curb Emerald Ash Borer, but there are concerns of the impacts on bee populations.

    • According to Bachman's, a tree care company, through proper application, this can limit damage done to bees greatly.

    • Yet to play it safe, some towns, like Boulder, Colorado have banned the use of imidacloprid to treat Emerald Ash Borer.

  • Systemic pesticides are more often used today and those are pesticides that coat the seed and are absorbed by the roots as the plant grows. This allows for less damage to bees.

    • However, when the seeds are planted, the coatings can come off as dust and get on nearby plants or be picked up by flying bees.

      • The insecticide on one seed is enough to kill an entire colony

  • Neonicotinoid pesticides remain in the plant as they flower and while honey bees are usually ok when coming in contact, wild bees are affected in a big way.

  • Following agriculture, local authorities are estimated as the second biggest pesticide users. A shockingly large amount of household pesticides have even been found in bees pollen.

  • When bees pollinate crops that contain high amounts of pesticides, they showed a significant decline in their ability to resist infection by Nosema ceranae.

  • Pesticide manufacturers often do not clearly label that it is dangerous to bees to spray the chemicals during bloom.

  • According to Reed Johnson from OSU, while bees are not required or often used for corn and soybeans, pollination for soybeans can increase the yield by 15% giving it a $400 value in Ohio

  • Most of the insecticides used on monocrop plants aren’t ven really neccessary, they jut serve as “cheap insurance” or are required for contracted farmers.

 

  • the chemicals and neonictonoids hurt their immune systems
    • studies show by only feeding them corn syrup they have no immune system
  • bees can handle some pesticides but continued heavy exposure is not good
  • only 3% of chemical load is from pesticides-- 51% is from beekeepers
  • all in all its a broken system, bc the commercial bees are sent to monoculture fields and with the lack of a diverse diet, they struggle.
  • the main way that bees get hurt with pesticides is through the dust of when it is applied or through pick up by nearby plants that bees may visit. Systemic pesticides allow for less damage to bees health.
  • it has been proven there is a positive correlation between corn planting and dead bee trap catches.

The use of miticides over time increseases the mites resistance, forcing the dosage to incresea which not only is harmful to the health of the honey bee, it can disrupt the normal pest-host balance.