MTT Agrifood Research Finland and Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira are studying in a two-year Neomehi project how neonicotinoid-based insecticides used in the Finnish cultivation of spring oilseed plants affects honeybees. Effects of the seed treatment (clothianidin, thiametoxam) and foliar spray (acetamiprid, thiacloprid) insecticides are both investigated. The project consists of field trials with controlled plant protection and also a survey study in which possible links between the proximity of the hives to oilseed fields and mortality of beehives, and occurrence of bee diseases are surveyed. Survey study is closely connected to a project studying bee welfare directed by the EU reference laboratory and coordinated by Evira. Analytical methods were developed and residue levels of neonicotinoids and their main metabolites in bees and in different hive samples (honey, bee bread, nectar, and pollen) were analysed in this project.

Impact of neonicotinoid insecticides use to honey bees in spring oilseed cultivation in Finland

248th National Meeting (2014)

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