Effect of Truck-Based Mosquito Adulticides on Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Crops like almonds, blueberries, apples, melons, and broccoli are entirely dependent on honey bee for pollination in United States. Honey bee declines in United States from 1940s have gathered much more attention on several possible causes linked behind it. Most of the studies have focused on pesticides used for agricultural crops pest. These studies have measured toxicity levels of bees for pesticides primarily in laboratories. The goal of our study is to look for the exposure of bee colonies in the field to mosquito adulticides. The effect of mosquito adulticides on colony health and bee health is being measured on local beekeepers colonies. Measurements will include bee mortality, colony strength, Glutathione S- transferase activity, and Esterase enzyme activity from the both the control and treatment areas during the 8 week period. The results from the first 7 weeks on bee mortality shows that there is no significant difference in bee mortality between control and treatment areas. Work is currently being done to see the difference in colony strength and enzyme level activity from both control and treatment areas. This study will help to find the real field exposure level of mosquito adulticides and its effect on colony and bee health.