Surveying the levels of pesticide residues in bees and stored pollen and their effects on bees.

最近全球养蜂业的蜂群损失水平很高，这导致人们对这些损失的原因进行了大量的猜测。蜂群突然死亡的潜在原因之一是蜂群健康状况的普遍下降。因此，一个需要解决的重要问题是，为什么蜜蜂健康会出现这种下降。一些猜测表明，蜂箱中的杀虫剂或农药残留物可能会对蜜蜂的行为产生相当大的负面影响。这种影响还有待观察，但它可能会导致蜜蜂行为的戏剧性变化，例如蜜蜂寻找食物的时间更长，寻找食物困难，或者蜜蜂更容易迷失方向，从而迷路。正因为如此，一些杀虫剂已经在德国和法国被禁止，因为人们认为这些杀虫剂是导致蜜蜂死亡的原因。最近的国际研究表明，杀虫剂可以在花粉中积累，但也表明了对蜜蜂行为的潜在负面影响。在这项由基尔大学和谢菲尔德大学合作的研究项目中，将从来自英国四个地区的许多蜂群中收集成年蜜蜂和储存的花粉；这些蜂群都有不同的农业实践。这些样本都将进行化学分析，以确定是否有微量的农药残留，并相互比较。由于杀虫剂对蜜蜂健康的影响可能与蜜蜂的行为(迷失方向)有关，而不是直接影响(死亡率)，因此分析将检测到低于致死剂量的水平。通过对养蜂人的调查，还将获得与蜂群损失和蜂群健康有关的数据。然后，可以将这些数据与现有的杀虫剂水平进行比较。如果在蜜蜂或储存的花粉中发现杀虫剂，这项研究将揭示英国不同地区发现的杀虫剂。这一数据将与其他欧洲国家的类似数据进行比较，在这些国家，特定的杀虫剂已被禁止。要测试这些杀虫剂的实际效果是相当复杂的，因为不是所有的杀虫剂在相同的浓度下都会有类似的效果。另一个复杂的问题是，农药残留的影响可能是一个长期影响。蜜蜂的行为可能会受到影响，导致蜜蜂迷失方向，无法返回巢中。但是，除非有关于杀虫剂存在的数据，否则无法开发或进行生物检测。因此，该项目将为生物测试的发展奠定坚实的基础，生物测试是测试杀虫剂对蜜蜂行为影响的重要手段。尽管养蜂协会抗议使用杀虫剂，但英国还没有进行全面的调查，以确定杀虫剂的真正(长期)影响。因此，该项目将为杀虫剂是否对蜜蜂的健康有害提供宝贵的指示，并将澄清早先获得的一些相互矛盾的结果。这才是这个项目真正的影响所在。创建一套关于蜂箱中农药存在的大量基线数据，将直接使整个养蜂业受益，也将使那些参与农药制造、使用和监管的人受益。

The recent high levels of colony losses in the beekeeping industry worldwide have led to considerable speculation as to the cause of these losses. One of the potential reasons for the sudden death of colonies is a general decline in the health of bee colonies. Hence, an important question to address is why this decline in bee health is occurring. Several speculations have indicated that pesticides or the residue of pesticides in the bee hive could have a considerable negative effect on the behaviour of honeybees. What this effect is remains to be seen, but it could result in a dramatic change in bee behaviour e.g. bees taking longer to find food, having difficulty in finding food or bees becoming more prone to disorientation and hence becoming lost. Due to this some pesticides have already been banned in Germany and France, as it was thought that these pesticides are responsible for the death of honeybees. Recent international studies revealed that pesticides can accumulate in pollen, but also indicated a potential negative effect on bee behaviour. In the research project, a collaboration between Keele University and Sheffield University, adult bees and stored pollen will be collected from many bee colonies originating from four regions of the UK; all having different agricultural practices. These samples will all be chemically analysed for trace levels of any pesticide residues and compared to each other. Since the effect of pesticides on bee health is likely to be related to the bees' behaviour (disorientation) rather than a direct effect (mortality), the analysis will detect levels below lethal doses. Through a survey given out to bee keepers data related to colony losses and colony health will also be obtained. This data can then be compared to the levels of pesticides present. If pesticides are found in either bees or stored pollen, this study will reveal which pesticides are found in the different areas in the UK. This data will be compared to similar data from other European countries, where specific pesticides have been banned. To test the real effect these pesticides may have is quite complicated, as not all pesticides will have a similar effect at a similar concentration. Another complication is that the effect of pesticides residues is likely to be a long-term effect. Bees' behaviour can be affected resulting in disorientation of bees and bees not being able to return to their nests. But unless data on the presence of pesticides are available, bioassays cannot be developed or carried out. Therefore this project will lay a firm foundation for the development of bioassays, an important means of testing the effect of pesticides on bee behaviour. Although beekeeping associations have protested against the use of pesticides, no full investigation has been undertaken in the UK to ascertain the real (long-term) effect of pesticides. Therefore this project will give an invaluable indication of whether pesticides are harmful to the health of honeybees and will clarify some of the contradictory results obtained earlier. This is where the real impact of this project lies. Creating a substantial set of baseline data regarding the presence of pesticides in bee hive, will benefit the whole beekeeping industry directly but also those involved in the manufacturing, use and regulation of pesticides.