Availability of Using Honeybees as Bioindicators of Pesticide Exposure in the Vicinity of Agricultural Environments in Taiwan

Abstract

While pollinating, honeybees are subject to exposure to a variety of pesticides; with their characteristics of certain foraging distances, they could serve as bioindicators of pesticide exposure in a neighborhood. We conducted a study to assess availability by collecting and analyzing bee samples from 15 apiaries located in East Taiwan and dust samples from the adjacent environment, and by finding relations between both samples. Seventeen pesticides were selected for the analysis using gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and eight (three insecticides, two herbicides, and three fungicides) were more frequently detected from bee or dust samples; the levels of these pesticides were mostly under 1000 ng/g. Significant correlation results (r ≅ 0.8) between residue concentrations in bees and in dust suggest that honeybees could be a good bioindicator for exposure to herbicides and fungicides within certain ranges. The pesticide contents of sick/dead bees were much higher than those of healthy counterparts regarding any pesticide type, with the mean total concentrations of 635 ng/g and 176 ng/g, respectively. We conclude that honeybees could be used as bioindicators of pesticide exposure; sick/dead bees could serve as a warning sign of the severity of pesticide pollution.

Enhancing natural enemy performance through plant secondary metabolites: The role of caffeine for the parasitoid Snellenius manilae

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Taiwan has experienced serious problems recently with the overuse of pesticides in agricultural systems (Hung & Yiin, 2023;Lee et al, 2020;Lu, Huang, et al, 2020). With a great number of chemical insecticides being used every year (Boudh & Singh, 2019), environmental contamination and compromised food safety pose a threat to both the environment and human health (Ling et al, 2020).

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