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Toxics
Special Issues
Assessment of Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity: Honeybee as Indicator
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Assessment of Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity: Honeybee as Indicator

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Agrochemicals and Food Toxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 2542

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Lih-Ming Yiin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Public Health, Tzu Chi University, 701, Sec. 3, Zhongyang Road, Hualien City 97004, Taiwan
Interests: environmental monitoring; exposure science; risk assessment
Dr. Chien-Che Hung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Medical Sciences, Tzu Chi University, 701, Sec. 3, Zhongyang Road, Hualien City 97004, Taiwan
Interests: environmental toxicology; risk assessment; environmental exposure monitoring; analytical method development(GCMS, LCMS, ICPMS)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pesticides, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc., have been widely used for agricultural activities, environmental sanitation, and other necessary purposes around the world. While pesticides provide benefits to human beings in many ways, the applications may result in residue in the environment, which is of concern for human health and the ecosystem. Many studies have suggested the occurrence of pesticide drift from farmlands in proximity to residential areas, which probably poses a health threat to susceptible people, such as children.  As for the impact on the ecosystem, the recent honeybee colony collapse disorder (CCD) has drawn significant attention. Although the causes of CCD could be complicated, the impact of pesticides should not be neglected, as several studies suggest neonicotinoids to be one of the reasons for CCD.

Honeybees are an important species that provide ecosystem services, particularly pollinating agricultural crops for food production. By doing so, honeybees are subject to pesticide exposure.  Additionally, when pollinating and collecting honey, honeybees only travel within certain distances; this characteristic could be useful for pesticide assessment of exposure and toxicity, should the field of agricultural crops be contaminated. This Special Issue is focused on the use of honeybees as indicators of pesticide contaminations that could impact human health and the ecosystem.

Prof. Dr. Lih-Ming Yiin
Dr. Chien-Che Hung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bee
  • pesticide
  • exposure
  • toxicity
  • assessment
  • honey

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4475 KiB  
Article
Olfactory Learning Behavior and Mortality of the Honey Bee Apis mellifera jemenitica in Response to Pyrethroid Insecticide (Deltamethrin)
by Mohamedazim I. B. Abuagla, Javaid Iqbal, Hael S. A. Raweh and Abdulaziz S. Alqarni
Toxics 2024, 12(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12010025 - 28 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1065
Abstract
Honey bees are constantly threatened due to the wide use of pesticides. This study presents the effects of deltamethrin on the mortality, olfactory learning, and memory formation of the native Saudi bee Apis mellifera jemenitica. Topical and oral application of realistic field [...] Read more.
Honey bees are constantly threatened due to the wide use of pesticides. This study presents the effects of deltamethrin on the mortality, olfactory learning, and memory formation of the native Saudi bee Apis mellifera jemenitica. Topical and oral application of realistic field and serial dilutions of deltamethrin (250, 125, 62.5, and 25 ppm) caused significant mortality at 4, 12, 24, and 48 h posttreatment. Bee mortality increased with the increasing concentration of insecticide at all tested posttreatment times. Highest mortality was observed at 24 h and 48 h after both exposure routes. Food consumption gradually decreased with increasing concentration of deltamethrin during oral exposure. The LC50 of deltamethrin was determined at 12, 24, and 48 h for topical (86.28 ppm, 36.16 ppm, and 29.19 ppm, respectively) and oral (35.77 ppm, 32.53 ppm, and 30.78 ppm, respectively) exposure. Oral exposure led to significantly higher bee mortality than topical exposure of deltamethrin at 4 h and 12 h, but both exposure routes were equally toxic to bees at 24 h and 48 h. The sublethal concentrations (LC10, LC20, and LC30) of deltamethrin significantly impaired the learning during conditioning trials, as well as the memory formation of bees at 2, 12, and 24 h after topical and oral exposure. Thus, deltamethrin inhibits learning, and bees were unable to memorize the learned task. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity: Honeybee as Indicator)
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10 pages, 1029 KiB  
Article
Availability of Using Honeybees as Bioindicators of Pesticide Exposure in the Vicinity of Agricultural Environments in Taiwan
by Chien-Che Hung and Lih-Ming Yiin
Toxics 2023, 11(8), 703; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11080703 - 15 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1127
Abstract
While pollinating, honeybees are subject to exposure to a variety of pesticides; with their characteristics of certain foraging distances, they could serve as bioindicators of pesticide exposure in a neighborhood. We conducted a study to assess availability by collecting and analyzing bee samples [...] Read more.
While pollinating, honeybees are subject to exposure to a variety of pesticides; with their characteristics of certain foraging distances, they could serve as bioindicators of pesticide exposure in a neighborhood. We conducted a study to assess availability by collecting and analyzing bee samples from 15 apiaries located in East Taiwan and dust samples from the adjacent environment, and by finding relations between both samples. Seventeen pesticides were selected for the analysis using gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and eight (three insecticides, two herbicides, and three fungicides) were more frequently detected from bee or dust samples; the levels of these pesticides were mostly under 1000 ng/g. Significant correlation results (r ≅ 0.8) between residue concentrations in bees and in dust suggest that honeybees could be a good bioindicator for exposure to herbicides and fungicides within certain ranges. The pesticide contents of sick/dead bees were much higher than those of healthy counterparts regarding any pesticide type, with the mean total concentrations of 635 ng/g and 176 ng/g, respectively. We conclude that honeybees could be used as bioindicators of pesticide exposure; sick/dead bees could serve as a warning sign of the severity of pesticide pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity: Honeybee as Indicator)
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