Pesticide problems for honey bees: a closer look in our towns

由于蜜蜂的授粉服务，蜜蜂对全球粮食生产至关重要。令人担忧的是，一场众所周知的蜜蜂健康危机威胁着蜜蜂种群，进而威胁到全球粮食安全。蜜蜂死亡的原因之一是农药(杀菌剂、除草剂、杀虫剂)污染，这导致了减少农药使用的呼声。这些呼吁最近导致禁止在农业生产中使用新烟碱类杀虫剂。但是，在大多数养蜂人有蜂箱的城市环境(居民区花园、公园、路边等)中，杀虫剂的使用情况如何？与农业地区相比，城市地区的蜜蜂是否存在农药亚致死中毒的重大问题？学生和全国养蜂人将在空间和时间上从城市地区、农业用地和非农业农村的蜜蜂和蜂箱中采集花粉。花粉中农药含量的定性和定量将通过质谱分析来确定。花粉植物的来源将通过下一代测序和显微分析来确定。此外，以市区为重点的反应性抽样方法将确定是否有杀虫剂污染，以及明显存在慢性和急性杀虫剂中毒的蜂箱中的花粉身份。来自这类蜂箱的蜜蜂将接受检查，以寻找指示农药暴露的基因生物标记物。总体而言，该项目的目的是评估蜜蜂以及事实上的其他昆虫传粉者在城市环境中相对于农业环境对杀虫剂的暴露，以便未来的任何政策变化都能成为证据。该项目将提供尖端化学和基因组指纹测序以及现代分子生物学方面的培训。这名学生将在阿伯丁大学工作，有机会在爱丁堡的苏格兰农业科学机构(SASA)工作。

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are critically important to global food production by virtue of their pollination services. Worryingly, there is a well-recognised honey bee health crisis threatening bee populations and, thereby, global food security. One of the causes implicated in honey bee deaths is pesticide (fungicide, herbicide, insecticide) pollution that has led to calls for reduced pesticide use. These calls have recently resulted in the prohibited use of the neonicotinoid pesticide in agricultural production. But, what of the pesticide use in urban environments (residential gardens, parks, roadsides, etc) where most beekepers have their hives? Is there a significant problem of pesticide sub-lethal poisoning of honey bees in urban areas relative to agricultural areas?Pollen will be collected from bees and hives in urban areas, agricultural land and non-agricultural countryside by the student and by beekeepers nationwide both spatially and temporally. The identity and quantity of the pesticide content of the pollen will be determined by mass spectrometry. The source of the pollen plant will be determined by next-generation sequencing and microscopic analysis. In addition, a reactive sampling approach focussed on the urban areas will determine any pesticide contamination and pollen identity in hives with apparent chronic and acute pesticide poisoning. Bees from such hives will be examined for gene biomarkers indicative of the pesticide exposure. Overall, the aim of the project is to assess the exposure of honey bees, and de facto other insect pollinators, to pesticides in urban environments relative to agricultural environments to allow any future policy change to be evidence-based.The project will provide training in cutting edge chemical and genomic finger-printing sequencing and modern molecular biology. The student will be based within the University of Aberdeen with opportunities to work at the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA), Edinburgh.