Erratum to: Effects of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid pesticide, on reproduction in worker bumble bees (Bombus terrestris)

Abstract

In the original publication of the article, the conversion of imidacloprid concentrations from lg L -1 into parts per billion (ppb) has been miscalculated in certain sections of the text. The authors would like to correct this error and provide the corrected conversions in the altered text below (correct ppb values given in italics).• …exposure to imidacloprid at an environmentally realistic level of 1 lg L -1 (=0.8 ppb)… • …oocytes were smaller in bees from microcolonies exposed to imidacloprid at 125 lg L -1 (98 ppb)… • …syrup dosed with imidacloprid at 1 ppb (1.28 lg L -1 )…• …the strongly detrimental effects of imidacloprid on fecundity at dosages of 39 ppb (50 lg L -1 )… • Except at relatively high dosages (i.e. above 98 ppb)… • …the detrimental effects of imidacloprid on bumble bee fecundity at dosages below 98 ppb… • …dietary imidacloprid at levels up to approximately 39 ppb… • …bumble bee workers feeding on syrup at the highest dosage, 98 ppb… • …microcolonies feeding on syrups at dosages of 16 ppb (20 lg L -1 )… • …microcolonies exposed to an intermediate dosage of imidacloprid, 39 ppb… • …imidacloprid at 39 ppb may have disrupted social interactions.The online version of the original article can be found under

Effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on non-target invertebrates

“…They recorded significantly reduced nest growth and an 85 % decrease in queen production in imidacloprid-exposed colonies compared to control colonies. This reduction in colony performance is likely due to a combination of factors such as reduced pollen input (as demonstrated by Gill et al 2012 and Feltham et al 2014 ) and perhaps impaired fecundity of queens (following Laycock et al 2012a , b ). In an 11 week greenhouse study, caged queenright colonies of B. impatiens were fed treatments of 0, 10, 20, 50 and 100 ppb of imidacloprid, respectively, and clothianidin in sugar syrup (50 %) (Scholer and Krischik 2014 ).…”

“…Neonicotinoids such as thiacloprid, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid decrease brood production, larval eclosion, colony growth rate and the number of queens reared in bumblebees (Tasei et al 2000 ; Mommaerts et al 2010 ; Whitehorn et al 2012 ). Studies suggest that the reduction in brood production may be associated with a reduction in pollen and sugar consumption by adult bees (Laycock et al 2012a , b ). The rearing of honeybees on brood comb containing high levels of pesticide residues results in delayed larval development and emergence and shortened adult longevity (Wu et al 2011 ).…”

“…Similarly, Franklin et al ( 2004 ) exposed B. impatiens to concentrations of up to 36 ppb of clothianidin without detecting an impact (see also Morandin and Winston 2003 ). Most recently, Laycock et al ( 2012a , b ) exposed micro-colonies of B. terrestris to a range of concentrations of imidacloprid (0–125 μg/l) and detected a 30 % reduction in fecundity at doses as low as 1 ppb. In the only comparable work on other bee species, Abbott et al ( 2008 ) injected concentrations of up to 300 ppb of neonicotinoids into pollen stores of O. lignaria and M. rotundata with no measurable impact on larval development.…”

New indices for rapid assessment of pollination services based on crop yield data: France as a case study

“…Pesticides are known to have strong effects on pollinators, particularly on wild bees (e.g. Brittain et al, 2010;Gill et al, 2012;Laycock et al, 2012) or in simplified landscapes such as those encountered in northern France (Park et al, 2015 The quality of the assessment of crop pollinator dependence may also influence the two indices. Here, we have used available data, which are coarse: the classes of pollinator dependence can span up to 30%.…”

Do novel insecticides pose a threat to beneficial insects?

“…A healthy bumblebee or honeybee colony will grow and produce sexuals (gynes and males). Reproductive output is arguably the best measure of colony fitness [32,63,64] but other proxies such as colony growth or larval production are also useful fitness measures [64,65]. As described in §3a, laboratory experiments have demonstrated that flupyradifurone exposure can increase honeybee larval mortality [50,51] and can also reduce adult emergence [51], which could have knock-on effects on colony growth.…”