According to recent study from the University of Guelph, a popular insecticide used on farms across Canada has been discovered to have negative consequences for ground-nesting bees like the squash bee.
According to the findings, female hoary squash bees, which are important pollinators on pumpkin and squash farms, dug 85 percent fewer nests when exposed to crops treated with the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid. The bees also collected considerably less pollen and generated 89% fewer offspring.
Lead author Susan Willis Chan, a post-doctoral associate at the University, stated that these bee populations are plummeting.
The researchers claim that their study, which was just published in Scientific Reports, is the first of its kind to look at ground-nesting bees in a real-world environment.
Ground-nesting bees are notoriously difficult to work with, according to Chan, partly because their nests are underground and can't easily be moved.
Female squash bees that had already been mated were collected and placed in enclosures at a greenhouse on a farm near Guelph, Ontario.
To evaluate the danger to the squash bee, Health Canada has started a special review of the use of various insecticides including imidacloprid, on pumpkins, squash, and watermelon. The study is expected to be finished by spring 2022.