> ... but Imidacloprid has such a low toxicity to bee larvae that
> no one has been able to even determine an LD50
From:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0049472
Abstract
The residue of imidacloprid in the nectar and pollens of the plants is toxic
not only to adult honeybees but also the larvae. Our understanding of the
risk of imidacloprid to larvae of the honeybees is still in a very early
stage. In this study, the capped-brood, pupation and eclosion rates of the
honeybee larvae were recorded after treating them directly in the hive with
different dosages of imidacloprid. The brood-capped rates of the larvae
decreased significantly when the dosages increased from 24 to 8000 ng/larva.
However, there were no significant effects of DMSO or 0.4 ng of imidacloprid
per larva on the brood-capped, pupation and eclosion rates. Although the
sublethal dosage of imidacloprid had no effect on the eclosion rate, we
found that the olfactory associative behavior of the adult bees was impaired
if they had been treated with 0.04 ng/larva imidacloprid in the larval
stage. These results demonstrate that a sublethal dosage of imidacloprid
given to the larvae affects the subsequent associative ability of the adult
honeybee workers. Thus, a low dose of imidacloprid may affect the survival
condition of the entire colony, even though the larvae survive to adulthood.
Citation: Yang E-C, Chang H-C, Wu W-Y, Chen Y-W (2012) Impaired Olfactory
Associative Behavior of Honeybee Workers Due to Contamination of
Imidacloprid in the Larval Stage. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49472.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049472
Editor: Nicolas Chaline, Université Paris 13, France
Received: March 13, 2012; Accepted: October 11, 2012; Published: November
14, 2012
Kind regards,
Ghislain De Roeck,
Belgium.
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