Fungicide and insecticide exposure adversely impacts bumblebees and pollination services under semi-field conditions

• Published in: Environment international 2021-12, Vol.157, p.106813-106813, Article 106813
• Main Authors: Tamburini, Giovanni, Pereira-Peixoto, Maria-Helena, Borth, Jonas, Lotz, Simon, Wintermantel, Dimitry, Allan, Matthew J., Dean, Robin, Schwarz, Janine Melanie, Knauer, Anina, Albrecht, Matthias, Klein, Alexandra‑Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Azoxystrobin; Bombus terrestris; Pesticides; Pollinators; Sulfoxaflor; Sulfoximines
• ISSN: 0160-4120; 1873-6750
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106813

•Field realistic studies on impacts of novel insecticides and fungicides on bees are rare.•Closer (sulfoxaflor insecticide) reduced colony growth, colony size and foraging in bumblebees.•Amistar (azoxystrobin fungicide) adversely impacted bee foraging and pollination services.•Insecticide application before bloom might be insufficient to avoid negative effects on bumblebees. Sulfoximines, the next generation systemic insecticides developed to replace neonicotinoids, have been shown to negatively impact pollinator development and reproduction. However, field-realistic studies on sulfoximines are few and consequences on pollination services unexplored. Moreover, the impacts of other agrochemicals such as fungicides, and their combined effects with insecticides remain poorly investigated. Here, we show in a full factorial semi-field experiment that spray applications of both the product Closer containing the insecticide sulfoxaflor and the product Amistar containing the fungicide azoxystrobin, negatively affected the individual foraging performance of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Insecticide exposure further reduced colony growth and size whereas fungicide exposure decreased pollen deposition. We found indications for resource limitation that might have exacerbated pesticide effects on bumblebee colonies. Our work demonstrates that field-realistic exposure to sulfoxaflor can adversely impact bumblebees and that applications before bloom may be insufficient as a mitigation measure to prevent its negative impacts on pollinators. Moreover, fungicide use during bloom could reduce bumblebee foraging performance and pollination services.