In a greenhouse metabolism study, sunflowers were seed-treated with radiolabelled imidacloprid in a 700 g kg-1 WS formulation (Gaucho WS 70) at 0.7 mg AI per seed, and the nature of the resulting residues in nectar and pollen was determined. Only the parent compound and no metabolites were detected in nectar and pollen of these seed-treated sunflower plants (limit of detection < 0.001 mg kg-1). In standard LD50 laboratory tests, imidacloprid showed high oral toxicity to honeybees (Apis mellifera), with LD50 values between 3.7 and 40.9 ng per bee, corresponding to a lethal food concentration between 0.14 and 1.57 mg kg-1. The residue level of imidacloprid in nectar and pollen of seed-treated sunflower plants in the field was negligible. Under field-growing conditions no residues were detected (limit of detection: 0.0015 mg kg-1) in either nectar or pollen. There were also no detectable residues in nectar and pollen of sunflowers planted as a succeeding crop in soils which previously had been cropped with imidacloprid seed-treated plants. Chronic feeding experiments with sunflower honey fortified with 0.002, 0.005, 0.010 and 0.020 mg kg-1 imidacloprid were conducted to assess potential long-term adverse effects on honeybee colonies. Testing end-points in this 39-day feeding study were mortality, feeding activity, wax/comb production, breeding performance and colony vitality. Even at the highest test concentration, imidacloprid showed no adverse effects on the development of the exposed bee colonies. This no-adverse-effect concentration of 0.020 mg kg-1 compares with a field residue level of less than 0.0015 mg kg-1 (= limit of detection in the field residue studies) which clearly shows that a sunflower seed dressing with imidacloprid poses no risk to honeybees. This conclusion is confirmed by observations made in more than 10 field studies and several tunnel tests.

Clothianidin is a commonly used systemic insecticide in seed treatments. Residues of clothianidin can occur in nectar and pollen as a result of within-plant-translocation. Foraging bees can collect contaminated nectar or pollen. Concerns have been brought forward that exposure to pesticide residues might affect colonies especially if they are weakened by varroosis. However, there are few scientific studies investigating such multiple-stressor scenarios in the context of the entire colony. To close this gapa field trial with 24 colonies was set up. The study design comprised four groups of six colonies each fed with uncontaminated sugar syrup ('C0'), or syrup spiked with 10 μg L−1 clothianidin ('C10'), 50 μg L−1 clothianidin ('C50') or 200 μg L−1 clothianidin ('C200'). C10 represented a residue concentration that may exceptionally occur and therefore a worst-case scenario, the higher dietary concentrations exceed and do not reflect fieldrealistic levels. A substantial load of 8 mites of Varroa destructor per ten gram bees in autumn was adjusted. The colonies were followed up for 328 days. The amount of brood and the strength of each colony were regularly assessed. Colony health, bee mortality, overwintering success, hive weights, and levels of in-hive residues were determined. Varroosis turned out to be the significant key factor for the endpoint colony strength. Clothianidin did not have a statistically significant impact on C0, C10 and C50 colonies. No statistical evidence was found for an interaction between varroosis andexposure to clothianidin.

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