Pesticide risk assessment in free-ranging bees is weather and landscape dependent

Mickaël Henry (), Colette Bertrand, Violette Le Féon, Fabrice Requier, Jean-François Odoux, Pierrick Aupinel, Vincent Bretagnolle and Axel Decourtye
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Mickaël Henry: INRA, UR406 Abeilles et Environnement
Colette Bertrand: INRA, UR980 SAD Paysage
Violette Le Féon: INRA, UR406 Abeilles et Environnement
Fabrice Requier: INRA, UE1255, UE Entomologie
Jean-François Odoux: INRA, UE1255, UE Entomologie
Pierrick Aupinel: INRA, UE1255, UE Entomologie
Vincent Bretagnolle: Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS (USC-INRA 1339), UPR1934
Axel Decourtye: UMT Protection des Abeilles dans l’Environnement, Site Agroparc

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The risk assessment of plant protection products on pollinators is currently based on the evaluation of lethal doses through repeatable lethal toxicity laboratory trials. Recent advances in honeybee toxicology have, however, raised interest on assessing sublethal effects in free-ranging individuals. Here, we show that the sublethal effects of a neonicotinoid pesticide are modified in magnitude by environmental interactions specific to the landscape and time of exposure events. Field sublethal assessment is therefore context dependent and should be addressed in a temporally and spatially explicit way, especially regarding weather and landscape physiognomy. We further develop an analytical Effective Dose (ED) framework to help disentangle context-induced from treatment-induced effects and thus to alleviate uncertainty in field studies. Although the ED framework involves trials at concentrations above the expected field exposure levels, it allows to explicitly delineating the climatic and landscape contexts that should be targeted for in-depth higher tier risk assessment.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5359

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