Honeys from Patagonia revealed notable pesticide residues in small-scale agricultural landscapes in the past decade

Abstract

Bees are major pollinators of wild and cultivated plants. Pesticides have been pointed out as a major driver of wild bee declines and of notorious honey bee colony losses, with high pesticide inputs frequently linked to large-scale agriculture. We explored the presence of pesticide residues in Apis mellifera honeys from a region characterised by small-scale agriculture in North-western Patagonia, Argentina in 2014. We compared Argentine and European Union (EU) regulations for pesticide residues found, and investigated the correlation with the botanical diversity of honey palynological spectrum. We identified residues of four pesticides in seven out of ten samples (the organophosphates Chlorpyrifos-ethyl, Pirimiphos-methyl and Dichlorvos, and the pyrethroid Cypermethrin); with concentrations higher than the maximum residue levels allowed in honey by UE. We found moderate evidence that the number of pesticides in honey correlated negatively with the diversity of pollen spectrum. Our results suggest risks due to pesticides to pollinators and human health also in small-scale agricultural areas. We highlight the need of strengthen regulations and controls in Argentina and Latin America regarding pesticide use in agriculture and pesticide residues in honey.

Keywords:

• Apis mellifera
• contamination
• maximum residue level
• melissopalynology
• organophosphates
• pyrethroids

Acknowledgments

We thank to all beekeepers from Comarca Andina who participated in this survey and to A. Saez, F. Tiribelli, L. Garibaldi and beekeepers who kindly assisted in honey collection from apiaries. CLM, SM, and MAA are staff researchers at the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), GSdG holds a doctoral scholarship of CONICET, while GB was a postdoc fellow at the same institution.

Disclosure statement of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

CLM and MAA conceived and designed the study. CLM coordinated the project and collected the honey samples. SM performed residue analyses. JW performed melisopalynological analyses. GSdG and GB analysed data. GB led the paper writing with substantial inputs from CLM and GdG. All authors read, provided editorial advice, and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data available in article Supplemental Material.

Validation of analytical methods available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agencia Nacional De Promoción De La Investigación, El Desarrollo Tecnológico Y La Innovación under grants PICT 2012-3015 and PICT 2015-2333; by SURPASS2 ‘Safeguarding pollination services in a changing world’, project funded under the Newton Fund Latin America Biodiversity Programme: Biodiversity–Ecosystem Services for Sustainable Development, under grants awarded by the NERC, Great Britain [NE/S011870/1] and CONICET, Argentina [RD 1984/19].