Take home: Pesticides in Ireland leave residues in soils, nectar & pollen. They can have impacts on bees, but the level of risk for fungicides and herbicides needs more work. We need better pesticide usage data, & better mitigation measures, to track change and reduce risk 16/16

This was the result of a huge amount of hard work from an amazing project team; @BlanaidWhiteDCU @DaraStanley @JimCarolanMU @JaneCStout @matts20000 @BombusThompson @ZioElena @MathavanVick @MerissaCullen @EdStrawBio @Ifa_Dee @APremrov and many others! 15/16

Thanks to our funders @agriculture_ie, and to our institutions @MaynoothUni, @TCD_NatSci, @ucdagfood, @DCUWater for all their support. A special thanks to all the farmers who worked with us to make it all possible 14/16

Herbicides are usually sprayed to kill plants, but bumblebees can forage on them after they’ve been sprayed and before they shrivel and die. These bees can collect pollen and nectar that contain residues of the herbicide in this time setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.co… 9/16

Pesticide residues were also found in soils, including in fields where they hadn’t ever been applied, which suggests movement perhaps via drift. This work is important as pesticides can be hard to extract from soils! cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2… And pubs.rsc.org/en/content/arti…

We found lots of different pesticides in nectar and pollen of crops and wild plants. Even some pesticides that haven’t been used for years are still cropping up, suggesting they can last for a long time in the environment. sciencedirect.com/science/ar… and sciencedirect.com/science/ar… 5/16

Pesticide residues are found in nectar and soils. But are there implications for bees, and what can we do to help? Read on to find out more from the PROTECTS project in Ireland! protects.ucd.ie/ vimeo.com/788284760/97ec9d87… 1/16

Huge congrats to @Mathavan_DCU for successfully defending his PhD thesis from the whole PROTECTS team! Yet another talented new Dr from the project! Can't wait to be able to share more of your thesis as it's published.

Herbicides are the most widely used pesticides globally, and glyphosate (the herbicide tested here) is hugely widely used in Ireland and abroad. This study finds that even 70 hours after spraying, plants still had glyphosate residues doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13586

New research from the project: Bumblebees will visit herbicide-sprayed flowers, even if there are unsprayed flowers nearby. This means they aren't avoiding herbicide exposure which could be harmful to them 1/4 doi.org/10.1002/etc.5442