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How are Neonicotinoids Decimating pollinators?

How neonicotinoids are threatening our pollinators?

A blog by Matthew Cameron, Conservation ecologist at The Habitat People, passionate about maintaining ecosystem services such as pollination.

Currently, two major crop producing countries are at war and worldwide food security may be in jeopardy. Most governments will be reassessing their own agricultural production and how to make this as reliable and productive as possible. This involves considering the use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, which have been banned or non-subsidized, including neonicotinoids. These particular insecticides have been fairly infamous over the last decade for posing large risks to wild insect populations.

Neonics’ are commonly used on crops and ornamental garden plants alike. They act on the nervous system of insects, impacting: flight, navigation, reduced reproduction and food consumption. Even small doses can have lethal consequences to insects. These effects are thought to be considerable for many insect species and local populations. Most research has focussed on the case of pollinator species. For example, Harvard University research in 2014 suggested large honeybee die-offs in the US were linked to neonicotinoid caused colony collapses.  

Seeds are coated with neonicotinoids, which then spread to the entire plant. As systemic insecticide particles are transported throughout the plant in its vascular system (transport sugars, water and carbon around a plant), and become fixed in the tissues. This includes the nectar pollinators eat and the pollen they transport. Over time these compounds are broken down by the plants. Often these products of breakdown are also toxic. The overall time scale is measurable in weeks and sometimes months, typically most prevalent in summer in temperate regions due to seasonal crop growth. This overlap with the reproductive and flight periods of most temperate insect species.

Some efforts are being made at a high level to reduce the use of neonicotinoids in agriculture. The EU banned the use of three common types of neonics’ on a select number of crops

most attractive to pollinators. Since then, the EU has banned the use of all neonic’s, with one exception, outside of permanent greenhouses. In the UK this very ban was also adopted, till the authorisation of neonicotinoid applications (Cruiser SB pesticide) in January 2022. Cruiser SB contains thiamethoxam which is highly lethal to bumblebee species a key pollinator of UK crop species (pollination ecosystem services are worth 690 million pounds to the UK). The government justification is to protect the sugar beet industry from yellow virus carried by aphids an industry worth 172 million pounds. Other local and national bans have been implemented in the US and Canada. Unfortunately, the reality is that a huge amount of this damaging insecticide is still present in our agriculture and garden plant industries, harming insects worldwide.

We must acknowledge insects pose a threat to garden plants and crops in many cases worldwide. However, neonicotinoids and other potent insecticides are the only solution to insect related plant damage. Alternative insect control methods include positive solutions such as local biodiversity increase, resistant and adapted crop choices, indoor vertical farming solutions and more. Biodiversity increase has correlated with decrease in pest populations and crop damage in many studies, due to healthy populations of pest predators.

Looking forward there is still a way to go removing neonicotinoids from our supply chains. There are still many knowledge gaps in the range and form of neonicotinoids effects, particularly for less known and less popular species of insects. Ultimately governments, research bodies and individuals all have a role to play. Many of this blog’s readers are consumers of garden plants, we can make informed choices and inform those around us. If you didn’t know the contents of this blog it is likely someone you know will also benefit from the knowledge so share and raise awareness.

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