**Monitoring the Field-Realistic Exposure of Honeybee Colonies to Neonicotinoids by An Integrative Approach: A Case Study in Romania**

#### **Eliza Căuia \*, Adrian Siceanu, Gabriela Oana Vis, an, Dumitru Căuia, Teodora Colt,a and Roxana Antoaneta Spulber**

Institute for Beekeeping Research and Development, 013975 Bucharest, Romania; adrian.siceanu@icdapicultura.ro (A.S.); gabrielaoana81@gmail.com (G.O.V.); dumitru.cauia@icdapicultura.ro (D.C.); teodora.colta@icdapicultura.ro (T.C.); roxana.spulber@icdapicultura.ro(R.A.S.)

**\*** Correspondence: eliza.cauia@icdapicultura.ro

Received: 12 November 2019; Accepted: 30 December 2019; Published: 6 January 2020

**Abstract:** Honeybees (*Apis mellifera* L.) are excellent biosensors that can be managed to collect valuable information about environmental contamination. The main objective of the present study was to design and apply an integrative protocol to monitor honeybee colony activity and sample collection by using electronic technologies combined with classical methods in order to evaluate the exposure of honeybees to the neonicotinoids that are used in melliferous intensive crops. The monitored honeybee colonies were especially prepared and equipped to maximize their chances to collect representative samples in order to express, as well as possible, the pesticide residues that existed in the targeted crops. The samples of honey, pollen and honeybees were collected, preserved and prepared to fulfill the required quality and quantity criteria of the accredited laboratories. In total, a set of fifty samples was collected from fields, located in different areas of intensive agriculture in Romania, and was analyzed for five neonicotinoids. The obtained results show that 48% of the total analyzed samples (*n* = 50) contained one or more detected or quantified neonicotinoid residues. The main conclusion is that the proposed approach for sample collection and preparation could improve the evaluation methodologies for analyzing honeybees' exposure to pesticides.

**Keywords:** corn; honeybee colony; monitoring hive; neonicotinoids; oilseed rape; sunflower
