A study published in the science journal Nature Sustainability reveals an exciting development that could protect bumblebees from the harmful effects of pesticides. The world desperately needs bees since they are responsible for the vast majority of the world’s pollination—up to 80% of all flowering plants, and that includes fruits and vegetables. So, you know, keeping them alive is kind of important.
And pesticides are really messing bees up.
If pesticides are a poison, the study introduces its antidote. It’s a small hydrogel made up of microparticles that can counteract the effects of the type of pesticides that can kill bees.
Bee populations have been declining in recent years. An astonishing 44% of beehives in the United States failed between 2017 and 2020. Many attribute that to neonicotinoids, a commonly used type of pesticide that affects bees by targeting their nervous system. It impairs their flight, movement, and compromises their immunity. It’s banned in Europe but still legal in the good old US of A, where we do things that don’t make sense and are harmful because a handful of people make a lot of money off of it.
The researchers fed bumblebees hydrogel microparticles mixed with sugar water. The microparticles bind to the neonicotinoids in the bees’ digestive tract so they can safely poop it out later. Bumblebees who had ingested the microparticles had a survival rate of 30% after they had been exposed to a lethal dose of neonicotinoids, and they showed fewer symptoms when exposed to sublethal doses.
The results suggest that this method could potentially be adapted to two other types of pesticides that harm bees. So far the antidote will only be feasible for farmed bees. Wild bees are fucked. You’re on your own, wild bees.
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