“…Their use has, to some extent, reduced the need for broadcast applications of insecticides to ensure stand establishment, thus lowering pesticide exposure for non-target organisms (Hull and Beers 1985;Albajes et al 2003;Cloyd and Bethke 2011). However, research has shown that seed treatments may also pose a risk to beneficial organisms via less obvious routes of exposure, causing both lethal and sublethal effects (Li et al 2012). Sublethal effects, in particular, are easily overlooked and yet may have considerable impact on natural enemy population dynamics and the level of ecosystem services contributed by these insects (Desneux et al 2007;He et al 2012;Biondi et al 2012a;Biondi et al 2013;Planes et al 2013) Systemic insecticides are characterized by low lipophilicity, typically exhibiting an octanol-water partition coefficient (log Poct) below 40 (Cloyd and Bethke 2011) which facilitates their translocation in plant tissues.…”