Wild bumblebee queens exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides were 26 percent less likely to lay eggs than unexposed queens, says a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
“Without the queen laying eggs, there is no colony,” says Nigel Raine, who worked on the experiment, which was conducted at the Royal Holloway University of London.
“Neonics, as they’re often called, are applied as a coating on the seeds of some of the most widely grown crops in the country, including corn, soybeans, and canola,” explains NPR. “These pesticides are ‘systemic’ — they move throughout the growing plants. Traces of them end up in pollen, which bees consume. Neonicotinoid residues also have been found in the pollen of wildflowers growing near fields and in nearby streams.”