RT Journal Article
T1 The toxic unit approach as a risk indicator in honey bees surveillance programmes: A case of study in Apis mellifera iberiensis
A1 Alonso Prados, Elena
A1 Muñoz Gabaldón, Irene
A1 De la Rúa, Pilar
A1 Serrano, José
A1 Fernández-Alba, Amadeo R.
A1 García Valcárcel, Ana Isabel
A1 Hernando, María Dolores
A1 Alonso, Ángeles
A1 Alonso Prados, José L.
A1 Bartolomé, Carolina
A1 Maside, Xulio
A1 Barrios, Laura
A1 Martín Hernández, Raquel
A1 Higes, Mariano
AB The influence of genetic diversity and exposure to xenobiotics on the prevalence of pathogens was studied within the context of a voluntary epidemiological study in Spanish apiaries of Apis mellifera iberiensis, carried out during the spring season of years 2014 and 2015. As such, the evolutionary lineages of the honey bee colonies were identified, a multiresidue analysis of xenobiotics was carried out in beebread and worker bee samples, and the Toxic Unit (TUm) was estimated for each sampled apiary. The relationship between lineages and the most prevalent pathogens (Nosema ceranae, Varroa destructor, trypanosomatids, Black Queen Cell Virus; and Deformed Wing Virus) was analysed with contingency tables, and the possible relationships between TUm and the prevalence of these pathogens were studied by using a factor analysis. The statistical analysis supported the associations between V. destructor and Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), and between N. ceranae and Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV), but the association between these pathogens and trypanosomatids was not observed. TUm values varied between 5.5 × 10−6 and 3.65 × 10−1. When TUm < 3.35 × 10−4, it was mainly determined by coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate and/or chlorfenvinphos. At higher values, other insecticides also contributed to TUm, although a clear predominance was not seen up to TUm ≥ 1.83 × 10−2, when it was mainly defined by acrinathrin, spinosad and/or imidacloprid. The possible cumulative effect from the joint action of xenobiotics was >10% in the 63% of the cases. The prevalence of pathogens did not appear to be influenced by the distribution of evolutionary lineages and, while the prevalence of V. destructor was not found to be determined by TUm, there was a trend towards an increasing prevalence of N. ceranae when TUm ≥ 23 10−4. This study is an example of using TUm approach beyond the field of the ecotoxicology.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
YR 2020
FD 2020-01-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126182
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126182
LA eng
NO Alonso-Prados, Muñoz, De la Rúa, Serrano, J., Fernández-Alba, A. R., García-Valcárcel, A. I., Hernando, M. D., Alonso, Á., Alonso-Prados, J. L., Bartolomé, C., Maside, Barrios, Martín-Hernández, R., & Higes, M. (2020). The toxic unit approach as a risk indicator in honey bees surveillance programmes: A case of study in Apis mellifera iberiensis. Science of the Total Environment, 698. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2019.134208
NO The authors acknowledge funding support from National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology and FEDER funds, Grant numbers: RTA2013-00042-C10-01/02/03/05/06 and the Seneca Foundation (Science and Technology Agency of the Murcia Region), Grant number 19908/GERM/2015. Irene Muñoz was supported by Saavedra Fajardo fellowship from the Seneca Foundation (20036/SF/16).
NO Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (España)
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
NO European Commission
NO Fundación Séneca
DS Docta Complutense
RD 30 dic 2025