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Project Code [2024-HE-1252]
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Project title
Bees and multiple stressors: The impacts of a pesticide and nutritional-stress on a solitary bee
Primary Funding Agency
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Co-Funding Organisation(s)
n/a
Lead Organisation
Irish Research Council (UCD)
Lead Applicant
Megan Reilly
Project Abstract
Pesticides, and in particular insecticides, are an integral part of our agricultural systems. However, they can also come into contact with non-target organisms such as bees who can in turn be pollinating crops. While we are beginning to understand the implications of pesticide use for social bees such as honeybees and bumblebees (who are also the focus of pesticide risk assessment), the vast majority of the 20,000 species of bees worldwide are solitary. Although research on solitary bees has increased since the mid-2000s, bee and pesticide research has focused mainly on honeybees. Honeybees, being a eusocial species, differ greatly in their life history traits to solitary bees. As a result, this species may not be a suitable model to represent the impacts of pesticides on all bee species. In addition, most of the research on pesticides has investigated the effects of neonicotinoids, and very little has investigated the effects of other insecticide types or multiple stressors which bees likely encounter in the environment.
Due to habitat loss, bees likely encounter nutritional stress which may be exacerbated in agricultural areas where pesticides are used. Understanding the effects of combinations of stressors may advise conservation practices, such as providing adequate floral resources to exposed populations to mitigate effects. This research will examine the combined effects of a widely used pyrethroid and nutritional stress on the Red Mason bee (Osmia bicornis). Using a combination of both lab and semi-field techniques, bees will be exposed to both pesticides and flowers in an experimental setting, and parameters such as behaviour, navigation and reproduction measured. This research will attempt to broaden knowledge on the sublethal effects of pesticides and nutritional stress on solitary bees. Results will help to understand the global decline in solitary bees, and inform pesticide risk assessment, policy and conservation practices.
Grant Approved
€62,000.00
Research Hub
Delivering a Healthy Environment
Initial Projected Completion Date
31/08/2026