Cornell University – When a Cornell-led team of scientists analyzed two dozen environmental factors to understand bumblebee population declines and range contractions, they expected to find stressors like changes in land use, geography or insecticides. Instead, they found a shocker: fungicides, commonly thought to have no impact. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been […]
University of Guelph – Bumblebees are less able to start colonies when exposed to a common neonicotinoid pesticide, according to a new University of Guelph study. Prof. Nigel Raine has discovered that exposure to thiamethoxam reduces the chances of a bumblebee queen starting a new colony by more than a quarter. “Bumblebee queens that were […]
American Association for the Advancement of Science – In two of the first large-scale, field-realistic studies to date, researchers in Europe and Canada have affirmed what’s been hypothesized about neonicotinoids — that prolonged exposure to these insecticides negatively affects bees. Their results reveal that local environment and species influence the impact of these widely used […]
