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Insecticide-contaminated honeydew: risks for beneficial insects
Miguel Calvo-Agudo1,2, John F Tooker3, Marcel Dicke2
1Centro de Protección Vegetal y Biotecnología, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Carretera de Moncada-Náquera Km. 4,5, 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain.
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|November 21, 2021
Summary
Systemic insecticides contaminate honeydew, a vital food source for beneficial insects. This contaminated honeydew poses a toxic risk to pollinators and predators, impacting ecosystems and potentially causing insect declines.
Area of Science:
- Ecotoxicology
- Entomology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Honeydew, a sugar-rich excretion from phloem-feeding insects, is a key carbohydrate source for many beneficial insects.
- Systemic insecticides applied to plants can be absorbed and excreted in honeydew by feeding hemipterans.
- Contaminated honeydew presents a potential toxic exposure route for non-target beneficial insects, including pollinators and predators.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the significance of insecticide-contaminated honeydew as an exposure pathway for beneficial insects.
- To explore mechanisms of honeydew contamination, identify at-risk hemipteran families, and review relevant systemic insecticides.
- To analyze scenarios where contaminated honeydew could impact beneficial organisms and inform environmental risk assessments.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and synthesis of existing research on systemic insecticides, hemipteran feeding habits, and honeydew production.
- Analysis of potential contamination pathways and insecticide properties influencing honeydew contamination.
- Development of model scenarios to illustrate the ecological impact of contaminated honeydew in Europe and the USA.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated contamination of honeydew by water-soluble, systemic insecticides in multiple plant and hemipteran species.
- Identified potential for widespread contamination across various ecosystems where honeydew is a significant food source.
- Highlighted the risk to beneficial insects, including pollinators, parasitic wasps, and predators, from consuming contaminated honeydew.
Conclusions:
- Insecticide-contaminated honeydew represents a critical, underappreciated exposure route for non-target beneficial insects.
- This pathway may contribute to observed insect declines and warrants inclusion in future environmental risk assessments.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the ecotoxicological implications of this contamination route, especially concerning invasive species.
