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researcher in France have resolve that neonicotinoid pesticide harm individual honey bees , but do not have the same effect on whole colonies in the natural state . They state that whole honey - bee Colony can actually survive , concord toBBC News . The study , which waspublished in the Royal Society ’s Proceedings B journal , states that the grounds for this is due to “ discrepancy between science laboratory and area study . ”
The discrepancies , BBC News study , lie in the “ toxicity judgement in the laboratory , where bees are dose unnaturally with insecticide , and the findings of field trials in the countryside . ” This leads to the question of whether or not lab resolution can be found in the tangible world and whether or not those conditions contribute to bee decline . The answer is the “ missing link , ” as it were , between bees and pesticide .
The French researchers say they ’ve chance an explanation of the missing radio link , mention that wild honey bees that scrounge around crop that have been exposed to pesticides croak off at a rate that ’s faster than normal . However , colonies in the wilderness are able to make up for the bee that die off . How ? By “ boosting the number of doer bee in the hive , ” according to BBC News .
Dr. Mickael Henry , lead research worker of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research , INRA , in Avignon , told BBC News , “ We could find grounds of trouble at the individual scale in the domain but these troubles were compensated for by the colonies . The universe inside the beehive was able-bodied to compensate for the increased expiration of proletarian honey bee by increase brood production . ”
The Dewar Crop Protection Ltd ’s Dr. Alan Dewar evidence BBC News , “ The conclusions from this body of work , which are very dim-witted in contrast to the report itself , show that bees , or at least dearest bees , can overcompensate for contrary effect of pesticide in their environment . ”
While this study is a step forward , other scientists reason that extra studies are needed and that pesticide use should still be monitored , if not banned . Dr. Scott Hayward of University of Birmingham distinguish BBC News , the study “ reignite argumentation to ban neonics . ” University of Dundee ’s Dr. Christopher Connolly added , “ It is important to call back that all other insect pollinator do not possess the enormous buffering electrical capacity of honey bees and are therefore more acutely at risk to the shock of pesticide . ”
