Bumblebee colonies at risk of extinction after pesticide exposure
GUELPH, ONT. – widely used pesticide is placing bumblebee populations at an increased risk of extinction, a new study from an Ontario researcher suggests.
Nigel Raine, an environmental science professor at the University of Guelph, discovered that thiamethoxam, a major neonicotinoid found in agricultural crops throughout the world, reduced the chances of bumblebee queens starting new colonies by more than a quarter.
The results were published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“Bumblebee queens that were exposed to the pesticide were 26 per cent less likely to lay eggs to start a colony,” Raine said of the research conducted in his lab with researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London.