Pesticides and non-Apis Bees: A silent threat: A review

Abstract

Non-Apis bees, encompassing bumblebees, solitary bees, and stingless bees, are critical pollinators that underpin biodiversity and agricultural productivity, yet they are increasingly threatened by pesticide exposure, which adversely affects their foraging efficiency, reproductive success, and overall physiological health. Unlike honeybees (Apis spp.), these pollinators exhibit a wide range of ecological traits, nesting behaviors, and life history strategies, rendering them particularly susceptible to environmental stressors. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the pathways of pesticide exposure and their sublethal and lethal impacts across individual, population, and ecosystem levels, emphasizing how impaired foraging performance, diminished reproductive output, and colony failure contribute to long-term population declines. Furthermore, pesticide exposure, when combined with concurrent stressors such as habitat fragmentation, climate change, and pathogen pressure, imposes risks to wild pollinator populations. Effective mitigation strategies, including precision agriculture, establishment of pesticide buffer zones, habitat restoration, and the implementation of stricter regulatory frameworks, are imperative to mitigate these threats. Safeguarding non-Apis bees is essential for maintaining ecosystem resilience and global food security, necessitating targeted conservation initiatives, enhanced ecological risk assessments, and collaborative efforts among stakeholders to protect these indispensable pollinators.