Bee sensitivity derived from acute contact tests biased by standardised protocols?

Abstract

In an acute contact test with bees the compound of interest is dissolved in a carrier solvent (frequently acetone) and then a droplet of the solution is placed on the dorsal thorax of the bee. The volume of the droplet is standardised to 1 µL for honeybees and to 2 µL for bumblebees. In practice the same droplet volume is used for bees with very different sizes. In this research the effect of the droplet volume was evaluated with acute contact tests with dimethoate for the alfalfa leafcutter bee, the red mason bee, the honeybee and the bumblebee. The results were analysed with a ToxicoKinetic ToxicoDynamic (TKTD) model to separate kinetic from dynamic effects. This allows to compare the sensitivity of the bee based on the effect threshold and not on the time, species and test dependent LD₅₀s. The analysis of the test results indicates that the magnitude of the response of the bees increased with increasing droplet size. The results also showed that the manifestation of effects over time is slower for the red mason bee and the bumblebee compared to the honeybee and the alfalfa leafcutter bee. This implies that the result of a 2 day test with a fixed dosing volume results in different response for a bumblebee compared to the alfalfa leafcutter bee, not because of different sensitivities of the bees involved but due to the difference of relative dosed surface ratio. So comparing the sensitivity of bee species, based on standardised tests is biased and amplifies the sensitivity for the smaller bee species.