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Over decades, pesticide regulations have cycled between approval and implementation, followed by the discovery of negative effects on nontarget organisms that result in new regulations, pesticides, and harmful effects. This relentless pattern undermines the capacity to protect the environment from pesticide hazards and frustrates end users that need pest management tools. Wild pollinating insects are in decline, and managed pollinators such as honey bees are experiencing excessive losses, which threatens sustainable food security and ecosystem function. An increasing number of studies demonstrate the negative effects of field-realistic exposure to pesticides on pollinator health and fitness, which contribute to pollinator declines. Current pesticide approval processes, although they are superior to past practices, clearly continue to fail to protect pollinator health. In the present article, we provide a conceptual framework to reform cyclical pesticide approval processes and better protect pollinators.

As in many other locations in the world, honeybee colony losses and disorders have increased in Belgium. Some of the symptoms observed rest unspecific and their causes remain unknown. The present study aims to determine the role of both pesticide exposure and virus load on the appraisal of unexplained honeybee colony disorders in field conditions. From July 2011 to May 2012, 330 colonies were monitored. Honeybees, wax, beebread and honey samples were collected. Morbidity and mortality information provided by beekeepers, colony clinical visits and availability of analytical matrix were used to form 2 groups: healthy colonies and colonies with disorders (n = 29, n = 25, respectively). Disorders included: (1) dead colonies or colonies in which part of the colony appeared dead, or had disappeared; (2) weak colonies; (3) queen loss; (4) problems linked to brood and not related to any known disease. Five common viruses and 99 pesticides (41 fungicides, 39 insecticides and synergist, 14 herbicides, 5 acaricides and metabolites) were quantified in the samples.The main symptoms observed in the group with disorders are linked to brood and queens. The viruses most frequently found are Black Queen Cell Virus, Sac Brood Virus, Deformed Wing Virus. No significant difference in virus load was observed between the two groups. Three acaricides, 5 insecticides and 13 fungicides were detected in the analysed samples. A significant correlation was found between the presence of fungicide residues and honeybee colony disorders. A significant positive link could also be established between the observation of disorder and the abundance of crop surface around the beehive. According to our results, the role of fungicides as a potential stressor for honeybee colonies should be further studied, either by their direct and/or indirect impacts on bees and bee colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollen stored by bees undergoes a fermentation marked by the presence of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. It results in bee bread. Past studies have singled out Starmerella (Candida) magnoliae as the most common yeast species in honey bee-stored bee bread. Starmerella species are ecological specialists with potential biotechnological value. The rarity of recent studies on yeasts in honey bees prompted us to generate new information on yeast diversity during the conversion of bee-collected pollen to bee bread. Bees and stored pollen from two apiaries in Belgium were sampled, a yeast isolation protocol was developed, yeast isolates were grouped according to their macro- and micromorphology, and representative isolates were identified using DNA sequences. Most of the 252 identified isolates belonged to the genera Starmerella, Metschnikowia, and Zygosaccharomyces. The high abundance of yeasts in fresh bee bread decreased rapidly with the storage duration. Starmerella species dominated fresh bee bread, while mostly Zygosaccharomyces members were isolated from aged bee bread. Starmerella (Candida) apis, a rarely isolated species, was the most frequent and abundant species in fresh bee bread. Yeasts from the bee's honey stomach and from pollen pellets obtained from bees hind legs were dominated by Metschnikowia species. The distinctive communities from pollen pellets over fresh bee bread to aged bee bread indicate a non-random distribution of these yeasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]