A Greener Approach for the Determination of Neonicotinoids in Foraged Pollen and their Occurrence in the Diet of Stingless Bee Tetragonisca angustula Latreille (1811)

Bees play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance, contributing to biodiversity through pollination and significantly enhancing the agricultural productivity of various crops. However, the frequent use of pesticides in agriculture and surrounding areas has adversely affected the well-being of these essential pollinators. This study focuses on developing a miniaturized method for determining imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula and the foraged pollen from their hives, with subsequent application to environmental samples. This approach efficiently monitors neonicotinoid levels in these matrices by significantly reducing sample mass and reagent usage. During method application, no thiamethoxam was detected, while residual levels of imidacloprid were found in both T. angustula (17.4 to 19.5 ng g⁻¹) and pollen (7.4 to 11.9 ng g⁻¹) samples. These findings highlight the applicability of the developed method for environmental monitoring and reveal the bioavailability of imidacloprid in hives near crop fields, contributing to the assessment of pesticide risk for these non-target organisms.