Bee-agriculture interactions: perspectives to sustainable use

Abstract

Bees play a key role in pollinating services in natural ecosystems and agroecosystems. However, this indispensable service is due primarily to deforestation, fragmentation of habitat and loss of natural areas, which are replaced by urban centers, Agriculture and Livestock. In addition, subsequent activities related to Agriculture in the conventional system, such as the indiscriminate and incorrect use of agrochemicals, have contributed significantly to the mortality of native bees and more massively disseminated species of the exotic species Apis mellifera. During the collection of food resources (pollen, nectar, floral oils and resins) bees come into contact with pesticides. Whether directly or systemically via the plants, this contact with pesticides has caused lethal and sublethal effects on honey bees, and little or nothing is known about the effects on native and non-social native bees. Our general objective is to evaluate the effects of different pesticides and their mixtures on A. mellifera, considered as a model species in toxicological studies, and compare these effects with two species of native bees, Melipona scutellaris and Scaptotrigona postica; a parasocial species, Xylocopa frontalis e; two solitary species, Tetrapedia diversipes and Centris analis. The specific objectives related to the subprojects are: 1) to analyze the biological responses (endpoints) to the agrochemicals tested through laboratory bioassays; 2) to evaluate the detection of agrochemicals and hydrogen peroxide in honey using nanostructured thin films produced from beeswax; 3) to verify the effect of pesticides on plant-insect interaction by recording the electrical activity of plants. (AU)