Exposure and adverse effects of pesticides on honeybees
Woodcock, Ben A. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0300-9951; Newbold, Lindsay ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8895-1406; Bennett, Mike; Shelton, Jenny ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1429-6845; Suresh, Manasa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9513-0792; Savage, Joanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-5148; Pywell, Richard F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6431-9959; Sleep, Darren ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1128-1883; Pennington, Olivia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6747-4950; Gibbons, Sam; Warren, Francesca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8053-869X; Carter, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5999-2732; Billings, Alex ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8042-5599; Campbell, Helen; Pereira, M. Gloria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3740-0019; Holmes, Stephen; Nawaz, Sadat.
2025
Exposure and adverse effects of pesticides on honeybees.
UK, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 63pp.
(Unpublished)
Abstract/Summary
Synthetic pesticides, including fungicides, herbicides and insecticides, are an integral component of conventional agricultural systems, as well as representing important veterinary medicines and having widespread applications in domestic and commercial situations. Their use poses a hazard to non-target species that are unintentionally exposed through both normal current use as well as where these chemicals have persisted in the wider environment following regulatory withdrawal. Understanding what these risks are under real world conditions is a critical component of the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) ‘H4: Exposure and adverse effects of chemicals on wildlife indicator’ . Insects visiting flowers, including those of crops, provide pollination services with an estimated value of £0.5 billion to the UK economy. While the community of insect pollinators is diverse, honeybees represent the only managed species foraging in the wider environment. With over 248,000 hives in the UK, they not only represent a species of high social and economic importance but can act as a bio-monitor of environmental risks as they are exposed to pesticides when they forage over distances of 1-2 km from their hives. Such exposure may come as they forage on crops, amenity land and domestic gardens. Working with the UK National Honey Monitoring Scheme this report describes an ongoing indicator for honeybee exposure and subsequent risks across England resulting from environmental use of pesticides from 2019 to 2023.
| Item Type: | Publication - Report (Project Report) |
|---|---|
| UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas: | Biodiversity and Land Use (2025-) Environmental Pressures and Responses (2025-) |
| Funders/Sponsors: | Defra |
| Additional Information: | On publication, report should be openly available via Defra website. |
| NORA Subject Terms: | Ecology and Environment Zoology |
| Date made live: | 04 Dec 2025 10:16 +0 (UTC) |
| URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/540672 |
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