Advances and knowledge gaps on climate change impacts on honey bees and beekeeping: A systematic review.

The Western honey bee Apis mellifera is a managed species that provides diverse hive products and contributing to wild plant pollination, as well as being a critical component of crop pollination systems worldwide. High mortality rates have been reported in different continents attributed to different factors, including pesticides, pests, diseases, and lack of floral resources. Furthermore, climate change has been identified as a potential driver negatively impacting pollinators, but it is still unclear how it could affect honey bee populations. In this context, we carried out a systematic review to synthesize the effects of climate change on honey bees and beekeeping activities. A total of 90 articles were identified, providing insight into potential impacts (negative, neutral, and positive) on honey bees and beekeeping. Interest in climate change's impact on honey bees has increased in the last decade, with studies mainly focusing on honey bee individuals, using empirical and experimental approaches, and performed at short-spatial (<10 km) and temporal (<5 years) scales. Moreover, environmental analyses were mainly based on short-term data (weather) and concentrated on only a few countries. Environmental variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind were widely studied and had generalized negative effects on different biological and ecological aspects of honey bees. Food reserves, plant-pollinator networks, mortality, gene expression, and metabolism were negatively impacted. Knowledge gaps included a lack of studies at the apiary and beekeeper level, a limited number of predictive and perception studies, poor representation of large-spatial and mid-term scales, a lack of climate analysis, and a poor understanding of the potential impacts of pests and diseases. Finally, climate change's impacts on global beekeeping are still an emergent issue. This is mainly due to their diverse effects on honey bees and the potential necessity of implementing adaptation measures to sustain this activity under complex environmental scenarios.

La abeja occidental Apis mellifera es una especie manejada que proporciona diversos productos de la colmena y servicios de polinización, los cuales son cruciales para plantas silvestres y cultivos en todo el mundo. En distintos continentes se han registrado altas tasas de mortalidad, las cuales son atribuidas a diversos factores, como el uso de pesticidas, plagas, enfermedades y falta de recursos florales. Además, el cambio climático ha sido identificado como un potencial factor que afecta negativamente a los polinizadores, pero aún no está claro cómo podría afectar a las poblaciones de abejas melíferas. En este contexto, realizamos una revisión sistemática de la literatura disponible para sintetizar los efectos del cambio climático en las abejas melíferas y las actividades apícolas. En total, se identificaron 90 artículos que proporcionaron información sobre los posibles efectos (negativos, neutros y positivos) en las abejas melíferas y la apicultura. El interés por el impacto del cambio climático en las abejas melíferas ha aumentado en la última década, con estudios centrados principalmente en individuos de abejas melíferas, utilizando enfoques empíricos y experimentales y realizados a escalas espaciales (<10 km) y temporales (<5 años) cortas. Además, los análisis ambientales fueron basaron principalmente en datos a corto plazo (meteorológicos) y se concentraron sólo en algunos países. Variables ambientales como la temperatura, las precipitaciones y el viento fueron ampliamente estudiadas y tuvieron efectos negativos generalizados sobre distintos aspectos biológicos y ecológicos de las abejas melíferas. Además, las reservas alimenticias, las interacciones planta-polinizador, la mortalidad, la expresión génica y el metabolismo se vieron afectados negativamente. Entre los vacios de conocimiento cabe mencionar la falta de estudios a nivel de colmenar y apicultor, la escasez de estudios de predicción y percepción, la escasa representación de las grandes escalas espaciales y a mediano plazo, el déficit de análisis climáticos y la escasa comprensión de los impactos potenciales de plagas y enfermedades. Por último, las repercusiones del cambio climático en la apicultura mundial siguen siendo un tema emergente, que debe estudiarse en los distintos países. Esto se debe principalmente a sus diversos efectos sobre las abejas melíferas y a la necesidad potencial de aplicar medidas de adaptación para mantener esta actividad crucial en escenarios medioambientales complejos.

Determination of spinosad at trace levels in bee pollen and beeswax with solid-liquid extraction and LC-ESI-MS.

This paper reports the use of a new LC method with a fused-core analytical column coupled to ESI-MS to determine residues of the biopesticide spinosad in bee pollen and beeswax. The method analyzes the active ingredients, spinosyns A and D, with a simple and efficient sample treatment (recovery between 90 and 105%) consisting of a solid-liquid extraction with acetone (bee pollen) or acetonitrile (beeswax). The method was validated in terms of selectivity, LOD, LOQ, linearity, and precision. The LOD and LOQ values ranged between 0.1-0.2 and 0.4-0.7 µg/kg, respectively. Moreover, the precision obtained within the linear concentration range (LOQ 500 µg/kg) was satisfactory (RSD lower than 5%). Finally, the proposed method was applied to analyze bee pollen and beeswax samples collected from apiaries located close to fruit orchards in two Spanish regions.

Determination of seven neonicotinoid insecticides in beeswax by liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray-mass spectrometry using a fused-core column.

A new method has been developed to measure seven neonicotinoid insecticides (acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam) in beeswax using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection. Beeswax was melted and diluted in an n-hexane/isopropanol (8:2, v/v) mixture. After this, liquid extraction with water was performed followed by a clean-up on diatomaceous material based cartridges. The compounds were eluted with acetone, and the resulting solution was evaporated until dry and reconstituted with a mixture of water and acetonitrile 50:50 (v/v). The separation of all compounds was achieved in less than 15 min using a C18 reverse-phase fused-core column (Kinetex C18, 150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) and a mobile phase composed of a mixture of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile in gradient elution mode at 0.5 mL/min. This method was fully validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, precision and recovery. Low limits of detection and quantification could be achieved for all analytes ranging from 0.4 to 2.3 µg/kg, and from 1.5 to 7.0 µg/kg, respectively. Finally, the proposed method was applied to an analysis of neonicotinoid residues in beeswax samples from apiaries located close to fruit orchards.