Toxicity and Risk of Biopesticides to Insect Pollinators in Urban and Agricultural Landscapes

Abstract

Pollinators play important roles in providing pollination services, maintaining biodiversity, and boosting crop production. Even though pollinators are essential to the environment and agriculture, their decline has been noted across multiple studies in the recent past. Both natural and anthropogenic factors have contributed to their decline. Much of the focus has been placed on climate change, habitat loss, pests and pathogens, and synthetic pesticides, but relatively little is known about the effects of biopesticides. Biopesticides are biological control agents derived from living organisms and are classified into three groups: microbial, biochemical, and plant-incorporated protectant-based products. Biopesticides are formulated similarly to their synthetic counterparts and are readily available and used within urban and agricultural settings by pest management experts and household residents. The general public and much scientific literature support the prevailing idea that biopesticides are environmentally safe and pollinator friendly in comparison with synthetic versions. However, such generalizations are based on studies with a few key pollinator species and may not be relevant to several other species that provide crop pollination services. Studies focused on native pollinators have shown that some biopesticides have lethal and sublethal effects. Because each biopesticide exhibits varying effects across pollinator species, it could be dangerous to generalize their non-toxicity across taxa and environmental settings. In this article, recent research in this direction is discussed.