Non-detection of honeybee hive contamination following Vespula wasp baiting with protein containing fipronil

Abstract

Introduced wasps (Vespula germanica and V. vulgaris) are costly invertebrate pests in New Zealand, with large impacts on the local ecology and economy. Wasps eat honeybees (Apis mellifera), which has potentially devastating effects on hive health, as well as agricultural and horticultural industries. Vespex bait, which contains fipronil in a proteinaceous carrier, has recently been introduced for wasp control. In over a decade of reported trials, honeybees have never been observed foraging on Vespex, likely because the bait contains no sugars to serve as a bee food source. However, the potential for the control agent fipronil to enter beehives has not been tested. Therefore, here, we investigated this using a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry assay of fipronil and two of its environmental breakdown and metabolic derivatives, fipronil desulfinyl and fipronil sulfone. We did not detect fipronil in any of the worker bee, bee larva, honey or pollen samples (n = 120 per product) collected from 30 hives over a 2-year period. Furthermore, although we detected fipronil desulfinyl in one honeybee sample, this is thought to have originated from a single individual, representing a rare occurrence of intoxication, and there was no evidence that Vespex was the toxicant source. There was also no evidence of trophallactic transfer of fipronil or its derivatives in any of the hives sampled. Previous studies have reported the impairment of individual bee performance at fipronil doses similar to the detection limit of our study. However, our results provide confidence that if undetectable intoxication was occurring, it would involve an acute exposure for those few individuals affected, with minimal impairment to colonies. Therefore, we conclude that the use of Vespex in the vicinity of honeybees does not result in significant hive uptake while effectively reducing wasp pressure on honeybee colonies.

Reproducible molecular networking of untargeted mass spectrometry data using GNPS

“…3b, where nine folders (Control, GF1, GF2, GF3, GF4, SPF1, SPF2, SPF3, SPF4) have been added. 15 Check that each spectrum (data) file referenced within a 'Result File' is associated with a file from the 'Peak List Files' category; this is required for a submission to qualify as 'complete'. 'Mapping Spectrum Files to Identification Files' is not necessary for small molecule workflows.…”

“…In addition, public datasets that the user publishes can, by choice of the depositor, have an associated digital object identifier (DOI). Currently, MassIVE is an approved repository for the Journal of Proteome Research (https://pubs.acs.org/journal/jprobs) and Nature partner journals (https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#chem) and is widely used as a repository for other journals [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . GNPS-MassIVE contains more than a thousand public metabolomics datasets.…”

Sugar alcohols have the potential as bee-safe feeding stimulants for wasp control

“…Vespula wasps are baited with sugar-free protein baits, which they readily consume in spring and early summer when the colony is collecting protein for brood production 3,4,6 . Bumble bees and honey bees also rely on protein for brood development, but they receive proteins from pollen and are not attracted to the protein baits developed for wasps 5 . A drawback of using protein baits on wasps, however, is that the window of opportunity to use these baits is limited to early in the colony development, when colony sizes are still small and less of a nuisance.…”

“…Fats and proteins are more species-selective feeding stimulants compared to sugars 1 . Sugar-free protein baits, for example, are readily consumed by social wasps 3,4 , but not by honey bees 5 . A drawback of using protein baits on pest insects, however, is that many insects prefer proteins over sugars only during the limited period of reproduction 4,6 .…”

Sugar alcohols have the potential as bee‐safe baits for the common wasp

“…1 Sugar-free protein baits, for example, are attractive to social wasps, 3,4 but not to honey bees. 5 A drawback of using protein baits on pest insects, however, is that many insects forage for proteins during the limited period of reproduction and brood care. 4,6 In contrast to proteins, most insects consume carbohydrates (e.g., sugars) all year round to meet their daily energy requirements.…”