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Evaluating the Potential for Bumble Bee Micro-colonies to Inform Risk Assessment%%
Citation:
Lehmann, D. Evaluating the Potential for Bumble Bee Micro-colonies to Inform Risk Assessment%%. SETAC North America 38th Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 12 - 16, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
Pollinators provide critical ecological services essential to maintaining our food supply and valued natural habitats. To satisfy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements, new pesticides are subject to a risk assessment process to identify potential adverse effects on honey bees [Apis mellifera] and other pollinators. Although there are more than 4,000 distinct species of bees in the US, the honey bee serves as the model organism for EPA-required risk assessment; in the absence of other data, findings in honey bees are extrapolated to all other species of bees. The EPA and Bayer Crop Science are co-chairing a symposium at SETAC to discuss efforts to discuss the validity reliance on honey bees for risk assessment performed on other bees. This presentation will discuss efforts by the EPA to establish a bumble bee micro-colony protocol for use with B. impatiens and to investigate the feasibility and potential utility of this model for risk assessment.
Description:
Pollinators provide critical ecological services essential to maintaining our food supply and valued natural habitats. Multiple environmental stressors impact the health of managed and native bees in the US and abroad. To satisfy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements, new pesticides are subject to a risk assessment process to identify potential adverse effects on honey bees [Apis mellifera] and other pollinators. The National Strategy for Promoting the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators and the 2012 EPA White Paper describing the conceptual framework for assessing risks of pesticides to bees discussed uncertainties related to assessing exposure and effects from individual pesticides and combinations of pesticides. For example, although there are more than 4,000 distinct species of bees in the US, the honey bee serves as the model organism for EPA-required risk assessment; in the absence of other data, findings in honey bees are extrapolated to all other species of bees. Limited research is available to evaluate the validity of such extrapolation across bee species. To further address this uncertainty, the EPA is engaged in the identification and implementation of tests for assessing the impact of pesticides on bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) micro-colonies. Bumble bee micro-colonies are formed when a small number of newly emerged worker bees are confined to a queenless environment. Under these conditions, one of the workers assumes a dominant position and begins laying unfertilized eggs that eventually give rise to males (drones). Using this model, pesticide exposure effect studies can be conducted while preserving elements of colony dynamics under well-controlled laboratory conditions. Progression from egg to adult bee can be monitored, allowing for assessment of both lethal and sublethal effects of pesticides. This presentation will discuss efforts to establish a bumble bee micro-colony protocol for use with B. impatiens and to investigate the feasibility and potential utility of this model for risk assessment. *This abstract does not represent U.S. EPA policy.