Recommendations for standardized oral toxicity test protocols for larvae of solitary bees, Osmia spp.

Maxime Eeraerts , Matti Pisman , Ruben Vanderhaegen , Ivan Meeus , Guy Smagghe

Effects of pesticides have been debated as one of the causes of worldwide declines of bee populations. Improving the risk assessment of pesticides on bees is important to halt these declines. Pesticide risk assessment today mainly focuses on one bee species, the honey bee. Because of differences in life cycles among bee species, this risk assessment needs to be adapted to take these differences into account. For both the adult and larval life stages, development of test protocols for solitary bees is required. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on larval tier 1 tests based on the first test protocols for solitary bee larvae available in the literature. As the ecology and rearing of solitary bees of the genus Osmia spp. are well known, we propose this genus as a model species in a first step to develop protocols for solitary species. In addition, we discuss guidelines, relevant endpoints, and research needs for the development of a standardized oral toxicity test protocol of solitary bee larvae.

Keywords: pesticides; solitary bees; Osmia spp.; oral toxicity test; ecotoxicology

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Maxime Eeraerts, Matti Pisman, Ruben Vanderhaegen, Ivan Meeus, Guy Smagghe. Recommendations for standardized oral toxicity test protocols for larvae of solitary bees, Osmia spp.. Apidologie, 2020, 51 (1), pp.48-60. ⟨10.1007/s13592-019-00704-w⟩. ⟨hal-03018597⟩