Spring honey bee losses in Italy

Autor/innen

  • Laura Bortolotti CRA–Unità di Ricerca di Apicoltura e Bachicoltura, Via di Saliceto 180, Bologna (Italy), Tel. +39 051 353103, Fax +39 051 356361, e-mail: laura.bortolotti@entecra.it;
  • Anna Gloria Sabatini CRA–Unità di Ricerca di Apicoltura e Bachicoltura, Via di Saliceto 180, Bologna (Italy), Tel. +39 051 353103, Fax +39 051 356361
  • Franco Mutinelli Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro (PD) (Italy)
  • Mario Astuti Direzione Generale Sanità Regione Lombardia, Milano (Italy)
  • Antonio Lavazza Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia (Italy)
  • Roberto Piro Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia (Italy)
  • Donato Tesoriero CRA–Unità di Ricerca di Apicoltura e Bachicoltura, Via di Saliceto 180, Bologna (Italy), Tel. +39 051 353103, Fax +39 051 356361,
  • Piotr Medrzycki CRA–Unità di Ricerca di Apicoltura e Bachicoltura, Via di Saliceto 180, Bologna (Italy), Tel. +39 051 353103, Fax +39 051 356361,
  • Fabio Sgolastra Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroambientali (DiSTA), University of Bologna (Italy)
  • Claudio Porrini Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroambientali (DiSTA), University of Bologna (Italy)

Abstract

Background: During last years several cases of bee losses have been reported during the period of corn sowing in different European countries. In Italy an institutional system for bee losses survey does not exist and therefore some Italian regions decided to organise an official network to collect data and analyse dead bee samples.

Results: Collected data indicate that the higher number of bee losses events occurred in intensively cultivated flat areas, located in the North of Italy, mainly during or after corn sowing. The chemical analyses of dead bees revealed the presence of three neonicotinoid residues: imidacloprid was found in 25.7% of the sample, thiamethoxam in 2.8%, clothianidin in 25.7%, both imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in 4.7%. The visual examination and the virological analyses excluded pathological causes.

Conclusion: The spatial and temporal correlation between hive damages and corn sowing and the presence of residues of active ingredients used for seed dressing (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin) in almost half of the samples confirms the connection between spring mortality and the sowing of corn seed dressed with neonicotinoids.

Keywords: honeybee mortality, neonicotinoids, seed dressing, corn sowing, dust dispersion.

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

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Veröffentlicht

2010-04-01

Ausgabe

Nr. 423 (2009): Hazards of pesticides to bees : 10th Int. Symp. of the ICP-BR Bee Protection Group, Bucharest (Romania), Oct 8-10, 2008

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