In this post, Carsten Brühl provides a poster on a wild bee ring test his group participated in.
Lab work (photo by C. Brühl)
“Last year we participated in cooperation with Knoell Consult in a ring test for the establishment of a wild bee study as requested by the EFSA Guidance Document on the risk assessment of plant protection products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees). The ring tests on acute contact studies with Osmia bicornis and Bombus bombus were part of the master thesis of Christina Rehberg and Lea Franke, working now with IES and Eurofins respectively.
Application of 1-µL drops to the bees (photo by C. Brühl)
The honey bee acute test and a publication were the basis of the study design but as you can see, results varied from lab to lab and sometimes control mortality was high. The task of the group was to establish if group or individual housing was affecting mortality rates and provide handling details to design a draft guideline for a standard contact Osmia study.
We are currently again involved in the ring test, focusing this time on oral uptake and development of a semi-field approach.
The poster can be downloaded via the link below: