Project Type

Internacional / Público

Financial Program

European Comission: PPPA-AG Pilot Project & Preparation Action Grant

IPB Funding Value

312023.77 €

Research Project

Principal Investigator

Maria Alice Pinto

Start

2018-11-01

End

2021-03-30

Description

The aim of the project is a pilot study on best practices for a European wide monitoring program with honeybee colonies in an apiculturist citizen science (CS) setting to study pesticide use and exposure of honeybees and investigation of pollen food sources. Honey bees are regarded as one of the best bio-indicators due to their sensitivity to chemicals, their dependence on the environment and the use of their products both for food and medicine. Data resulting from this monitoring program will enable risk assessment modelling, evaluation of the authorisation of pesticides and agricultural practices and evaluation of the available food sources for bees. The objectives of the project are: (1) the development of a non-invasive environmental monitoring system with honeybee colonies in a citizen science setting, guided by a protocol to be agreed, which combines scientific, practical and methodological recommendations; (2) risk mapping of honeybee pesticide exposure; (3) analyses for authorised and non-authorised pesticides and veterinary drugs; (4) indication of plant diversity as food sources for bees; (5) evaluation of agricultural and pesticide legislation practice, (6) verification of the quality of the CORINE database for landscape-level exposure modelling and (7) extension, publicity and impact of the The INSIGNIA consortium aims for an innovative interpretation of the objectives by the introduction of sentinel apiaries, non-biological sampling matrices, sociological evaluation and steering of field practitioner processes (Citizen Science) to obtain a robust sampling protocol for the non-invasive environmental monitoring of honeybee colonies. The key factors for the success of this project are the combination of an excellent sampling protocol for the field practitioners (citizen scientists) backed up by state-of-the-art science that will (1) determine the honeybee-relevant plant diversity in a region by applying molecular techniques to collected pollen samples, and (2) allow residue analysis of plant protection products and veterinary products in the collected pollen and hence evaluation of the pesticide exposure. The excellence of the field practitioners’ protocols originates from the facts that they: (1) describe concrete tasks to be performed; (2) provide simple standardised data collection procedures for these tasks; (3) provide simplicity in practical handling; and (4) include feedback systems / rewards for the practitioners. Taking this into account, the result will be a scientifically underpinned citizen science monitoring protocol comprising sampling, storage and transportation and analysis, using honeybee colonies in sentinel apiaries for detection of exposure to pesticides. From these results, a risk mapping model based on land-use, pesticide application and food availability will be constructed. The key features of an apiculturist citizen science monitoring program, namely best practices in sampling, best practices for storage, best practices for transportation and sample analyses, will be tested and evaluated in 2019 (Y1) in a limited number of test sites. In 2020 (Y2) the proposed best practice protocol based on the results and evaluation of the 2019 results will be ring-tested in an extended number of European countries. The national organisation of sites, apiculturist citizen scientists, selection of high and low pesticide exposure risk and organisation of the monitoring process, protocol and risk mapping model will be ring-tested in 4 regions in 2019 and then in 2020 in 9 significantly different regions in Europe including all regulatory zones, distributed in the North (2), South (3), and Centre (4).

Project Team

Joana Amaral
Maria Alice Pinto

Project Partners

• Alveus AB Consultancy
• Benaki Phytopathological Institute
• Carreck Consultancy Ltd
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• Danmarks Biavlerforening
• Ghent University
• Hellinikos Georgikos Organismos DIMITRA
• HKH Kwaliteit & Certificering
• Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana
• Latvian Beekeepers’ Association
• Universidad de Almeria
• University of Graz
• University of Limerick
• University of Strathclyde
• Wageningen Environmental Research