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Impacts of pesticides used in Quebec (Canada) corn fields on honeybee colonies Apimondia 2009 Montpellier, France Madeleine Chagnon Ph.D. Environmental sciences Assistant Professor at Université du Québec à Montréal Assistant professeur at Laval University in Québec City Associated researcher at Centre de recherche en sciences animales de Deschambault

Conférence Apimondia

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Presentation from Prof. Madeleine Chagnon Québec. Taken at the Apimondia congress 2009

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Page 1: Conférence Apimondia

Impacts of pesticides used in Quebec (Canada) corn fields on

honeybee colonies

Apimondia 2009Montpellier, France

Madeleine Chagnon Ph.D. Environmental sciencesAssistant Professor at Université du Québec à Montréal Assistant professeur at Laval University in Québec City

Associated researcher at Centre de recherche en sciences animales de Deschambault

Page 2: Conférence Apimondia

Economic value of pollinators in Quebec

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By pollen analysis, It is possible to quantify  presence of honeybees in a crop

Corn, especially sweet corn is a source of pollen, but also a risk of poisoning by pesticides

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When other pollen ressources are poor

CORN

CLOVER

MUSTARD

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

% humidity in pollen

Polle

n g

/2hrs

When pollen reaches 30% to 40% humidity (requieredto form pellets ?)

Honeybees forage on corn

R2= 0,53α = 0,05

July August

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Increasing land use for corn crops in Quebec

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Europeen corn borer

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2: Insectides drift in the next field and in border plants

Aerial spaying in Sweet cornTWO ways for Honeybees of getting poisoned

1: The bees are directly spayed

Carbamates Crabaryl (Sevin XLR)Carborufan (Furadan 480F)

Insecticides that are highly toxic to bees and may have a residual hazard longer than 8 hours

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Accumulation and concentration of insecticide in little pools formed in the leaves nods (ramification) of the maize plant

Work done with Suzanne Pion and Domingos deOliveira

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Experimental design

45 hives45 hives

HIGHHIGH MODERATE MODERATE LOWLOW

RVRV LECLECJJ LL RDRD BBBBPSPS PBPB CDCD

Saint-Damase Saint-Jude/Saint-Barnabé Saint-Pie/Saint-Dominique

pesticides pest

icid

es

Use of Honeybees as bioindicators

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Variables mesured1. Weight of hives 2. Dead honeybee count

3. Problems with queens - Loss - Interruption of egg laying

4. Brood development

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High Moderate Low

Queenless hiveQueen stops laying

eggs

9 hives on 15* 7 hives on 15 1 hive on 15**

Percent of dead honeybees collected

during the study

68 % 27 % 5 %

Number of time more than 100 dead honeybees were found

11 2 0

Hive weight gain(kg)

+ 32.09 + 48.91 + 44.55

Gain in brood cells -6967 -4232 + 8075

GLOBAL HIVE PERFORMANCE vs PESTICIDE USE IN THE ENVIRONNEMENT

RESULTS

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MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Dead Honeybees

Brood development

Queen laying

High Moderate Low

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Follow up on native wild bees : species acculumation curves

Cs et Cm confondus

Wild bee are also prolific pollinators.

Expected number of species

Number of samples

Moderate and high

Low exposure

Low High Moderate

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Rises in colony losses in Québec2003Arrival of the varroa mite

Tiré d’une présentation de Claude Boucher mv MAPAQ

2009: 30%

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Many other causes are possible (or a combination of these)•Pathogenes

•Parasites

•Food ressource quality

•Pesticides

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Candian studies have showen that the half-life of this insecticide in bare soil can go from 282 to 366 days, in soil covered with grass from 224 to 257 days and in soil planted with potatoes, from 266 à 457 days (PMRA, 1997).

SOIL

WATER

The ministery of environement detected Imidaclopride in 35 % of the wells sampled near potato feilds (up to 6,4 µg/l)

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Systemic Insecticides

Thiaméthoxame (CRUISER®)

Seed coating (néonicotinoïde)

Clothianidine (PONCHO®)

Acétylcholine Inhibitor (neurotransmission)

0,005 μg/bee (5 ng)

LD50 contact

0,003 μg/bee (3 ng)

(SAgE pesticide)

Imidaclopride (GAUCHO®) 0,004 μg/bee (4 ng)

Chemical communication Disruption of temperature regulationAffectation wing muscles

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A study was recently initiated to assess the current large scale use of new systemic pesticides (neonicotinoids) in corn as one of the multifactorial causes of observed honeybee losses.

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In Quebec 95 to 100% of canola, soya or corn seeds plated were treated with either ‘’Poncho’’ (clothianidin) - Bayer

Or

‘’Cruiser’’ (thiamethoxam) - Syngenta.

CORN

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Matériels et methodes

3 Québec régions

Sainte-MarieSaint- Eustache Saint-Hyacinthe

ControlLachute

ControlSt-Francois

ControlSt-Étienne

ExpérimentalSt-André Expérimental

PierrevilleExpérimentalSt-Lambert

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LABORATORY

Capturing surviving foragers and

counting dead Honeybee

Chemical analysis

Wing wear To estimate age of

Honeybees

Toxicological analyses et

developpement of biomarkers

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•paralysis•abnormal wobbly movements •spinning on the back •fighting and confusion at the hive entrance

SYMPTOMS OBSERVED

High mortality of bees showing symptoms of the Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus was observed in exposed hives while control hives remained healthy

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0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

2 aout 9 aout 13 aout 16 aout 21 aout

Num

ber of dead H

oneybees

Saint-André

Lachute

Linear (Saint-André)

Linear (Lachute)

Results on Honeybee mortality

Control hives

Exposed hives

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• Queenless hives

• Severely weakened or queenless colonies that did not survive the following winter.

• Honeybees displaying symptomes of viral paralysis disease (symptoms that may be confused with bee poisoning).

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Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Undamaged

Estimation of wing wear

High morality in foragers causes worker bee to leave hive : advancing their foraging role

Adapted from Mueller & Mueller 1993

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First year results on wing wear

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

Undamaged Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3

Beginning

End

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

Undamaged Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3

Beginning

End

Exposed hives with high mortality

Control hives with low mortality

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Ectoxicology – UQAM/TOXEN(Madeleine Chagnon, Monique Boily et Geneviève Beaunoyer)

Developement of biomarkers to evaluatate the impacts of Honeybee (Apis mellifera)exposition to pesticides used in large corn field

environnements

Dosage of bee head acetylcholinesterase (AChE) using microplate spectrofluorometry

Expected results: a decrese in acetylcholinesterase as an indicator of exposure to an antiholinesterase pesticide (This enzymatic essay is not capable of distinguishing between diffrent pesticides)

First results : The AChE increase in surviving Honeybees showed that AChE activity might be used as biomarker to reveal an exposure to pesticides (overcompensation).

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Ectoxicology laboartory UQAM/TOXEN

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The pesticides used are constantly changing as well as their mode of action: Example - Movento

We are now working on the developement of certain tests that can help us to judge Honeybee health, including its immune system

ectoxicology laboartory UQAM/TOXEN

• Weakened immune systems can facilitate the spreading viral infections.

• This hypothysis has been largely suggested for the varroa mite

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Ongoing work

Dosage of vitamine A and enzymes playing a rôle in the immune system of the Honeybee

The enzymes phénol oxydase (PO) and glucose déshydrogénase (GLD) play a critical role in cellulare response (Xiaolong et al., 2005)

These levels of the immunity-related enzymes are thus priorised

ectoxicology laboartory UQAM/TOXEN

Page 32: Conférence Apimondia