ThinkBee – integrated pest and pollinator management under intensified agriculture and climate change

Pollination is essential for agricultural production but pollinators such as bumblebees are under pressure from multiple stressors, including insecticide exposure. Insecticide residues in bumblebee colonies and severe effects on individual and colony health support the need for strategies that mitigate bee insecticide exposure and effects. But we often lack a mechanisitic understanding of how, when and why insecticide exposure results in sublethal and lethal effects on bumblebee individuals and/or colonies. Here, we aim to conceptualize a new approach to counteract insecticide effects with the bees' context-dependent sensivity in focus. In targeted experiments, we will disentangle if, when and how insecticides affect bumble bee individuals and when this translates into colony
failure or lack of reproduction. We will expose colonies at different developmental stages to insecticides with different modes of action and through different concentrations and food sources. We will use these results, findings from ongoing projects and the literature to develop a tailor-made approach for bumblebees that minimizes insecticide-effects based on their context-dependent sensitivity. We will discuss our findings with an expert group of stakeholders, end-users, scientists and authorities to evaluate their practical application into pesticide management. Thereby, we will give new input for national and international strategies to reduce the impact of chemical pest control on bumblebees.