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New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine and coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal class (neonicotinoids and fipronil), with the potential to greatly decrease populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds, and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction, and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota, and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015 ).

Alien insects are increasingly being dispersed around the world through international trade, causing a multitude of negative environmental impacts and billions of dollars in economic losses annually. Border controls form the last line of defense against invasions, whereby inspectors aim to intercept and stop consignments that are contaminated with harmful alien insects. In Europe, member states depend on one another to prevent insect introductions by operating a first point of entry rule--controlling goods only when they initially enter the continent. However, ensuring consistency between border control points is difficult because there exists no optimal inspection strategy. For the first time, we developed a method to quantify the volume of agricultural trade that should be inspected for quarantine insects at border control points in Europe, based on global agricultural trade of over 100 million distinct origin-commodity-species-destination pathways. This metric was then used to evaluate the performance of existing border controls, as measured by border interception results in Europe between 2003 and 2007. Alarmingly, we found significant gaps between the trade pathways that should be inspected and actual number of interceptions. Moreover, many of the most likely introduction pathways yielded none or very few insect interceptions, because regular interceptions are only made on only a narrow range of pathways. European countries with gaps in border controls have been invaded by higher numbers of quarantine alien insect species, indicating the importance of proper inspections to prevent insect invasions. Equipped with an optimal inspection strategy based on the underlying risks of trade, authorities globally will be able to implement more effective and consistent border controls.

Background Neonicotinoids (NN) are selective neurotoxic pesticides that bind to insect but also mammal nicotinic acetycholine receptors (nAChRs). As the most widely used class of insecticides worldwide, they are ubiquitously found in the environment, wildlife, and foods, and thus of special concern for their impacts on the environment and human health. nAChRs are vital to proper brain organization during the prenatal period and play important roles in various motor, emotional, and cognitive functions. Little is known on children’s contamination by NN. In a pilot study we tested the hypothesis that children’s cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) can be contaminated by NN. Methods NN were analysed in leftover CSF, blood, and urine samples from children treated for leukaemias and lymphomas and undergoing therapeutic lumbar punctions. We monitored all neonicotinoids approved on the global market and some of their most common metabolites by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results From August to December 2020, 14 children were consecutively included in the study. Median age was 8 years (range 3–18). All CSF and plasma samples were positive for at least one NN. Nine (64%) CSF samples and 13 (93%) plasma samples contained more than one NN. Thirteen (93%) CSF samples had N -desmethyl-acetamiprid (median concentration 0.0123, range 0.0024–0.1068 ng/mL), the major metabolite of acetamiprid. All but one urine samples were positive for ≥ one NN. A statistically significant linear relationship was found between plasma/urine and CSF N -desmethyl-acetamiprid concentrations. Conclusions We have developed a reliable analytical method that revealed multiple NN and/or their metabolites in children’s CSF, plasma, and urine. Our data suggest that contamination by multiple NN is not only an environmental hazard for non-target insects such as bees but also potentially for children.

Drosophila suzukii is an invasive fly of East Asian origin that has become a serious fruit pest worldwide. Classical biological control through the introduction of parasitoids from Asia could help reduce populations of D. suzukii in invaded regions. Little is known about the native parasitoids of the fly in Asia. Therefore, surveys for larval parasitoids of D. suzukii were carried out in China and Japan between 2015 and 2017. Parasitoids of D. suzukii and other fruit-inhabiting drosophilids (D. pulchrella and D. subpulchrella) that are probably attacked by the same parasitoid complex were found in four Chinese provinces and four Japanese prefectures. Larval parasitoids were obtained at most sites where D. suzukii was found, with parasitism varying from 0.0 to 75.6%. At least eight parasitoid species were reared. The most abundant and frequent parasitoids were the Figitidae Ganaspis cf. brasiliensis and Leptopilina japonica, but another Leptopilina species and at least five Braconidae species belonging to the genera Areotetes, Asobara and Tanycarpa were obtained in low numbers. Due to its likely restricted host range, the most promising parasitoid for biological control is Ganaspis cf. brasiliensis. However, its exact specificity and taxonomic status require future research.

he authors would like to thank the Stichting Triodos Foundation (The Netherlands) for funding the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) as a totally independent research group, for making this study and the relative open access possible. The Stichting Triodos Foundation received funds from the Umwelt Stiftung Greenpeace (Germany), Pollinis (France) and the M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Stichting (The Netherlands).

Rickettsia are intracellular symbionts of eukaryotes that are best known for infecting and causing serious diseases in humans and other mammals. All known vertebrate-associated Rickettsia are vectored by arthropods as part of their life-cycle, and many other Rickettsia are found exclusively in arthropods with no known secondary host. However, little is known about the biology of these latter strains. Here, we have identified 20 new strains of Rickettsia from arthropods, and constructed a multi-gene phylogeny of the entire genus which includes these new strains. We show that Rickettsia are primarily arthropod-associated bacteria, and identify several novel groups within the genus. Rickettsia do not co-speciate with their hosts but host shifts most often occur between related arthropods. Rickettsia have evolved adaptations including transmission through vertebrates and killing males in some arthropod hosts. We uncovered one case of horizontal gene transfer among Rickettsia, where a strain is a chimera from two distantly related groups, but multi-gene analysis indicates that different parts of the genome tend to share the same phylogeny. Approximately 150 million years ago, Rickettsia split into two main clades, one of which primarily infects arthropods, and the other infects a diverse range of protists, other eukaryotes and arthropods. There was then a rapid radiation about 50 million years ago, which coincided with the evolution of life history adaptations in a few branches of the phylogeny. Even though Rickettsia are thought to be primarily transmitted vertically, host associations are short lived with frequent switching to new host lineages. Recombination throughout the genus is generally uncommon, although there is evidence of horizontal gene transfer. A better understanding of the evolution of Rickettsia will help in the future to elucidate the mechanisms of pathogenicity, transmission and virulence.

Aim To quantify the relative importance of propagule pressure, climate-matching and host availability for the invasion of agricultural pest arthropods in Europe and to forecast newly emerging pest species and European areas with the highest risk of arthropod invasion under current climate and a future climate scenario (A1F1). Location Europe. Methods We quantified propagule pressure, climate-matching and host availability by aggregating large global databases for trade, European arthropod interceptions, Koeppen–Geiger world climate classification (including the A1F1 climate change scenario until 2100) and host plant distributions for 118 quarantine arthropod species. Results As expected, all the three factors, propagule pressure, climate suitability and host availability, significantly explained quarantine arthropod invasions in Europe, but the propagule pressure only had a positive effect on invasion success when considered together with climate suitability and host availability. Climate change according to the A1F1 scenario generally increased the climate suitability of north-eastern European countries and reduced the climate suitability of central European countries for pest arthropod invasions. Main conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that propagule pressure interacts with other factors to drive invasions and is not alone sufficient to explain arthropod establishment patterns. European countries with more suitable climate and large agricultural areas of suitable host plants for pest arthropods should thus be more vigilant about introduction pathways. Moreover, efforts to reduce the propagule pressure, such as preventing pests from entering pathways and strengthening border controls, will become more important in north-eastern Europe in the future as the climate becomes more favourable to arthropod invasions.

The homogenization of agricultural landscapes has led to a decrease in pollinator diversity and abundance. In response to this decline, farmers have implemented agroecological measures, which, in meadows, aim at providing more floral resources. These measures are the availability of unmown floral strips, delayed mowing, and discouraging the use of the conditioner, a device known to harm insects. The aim of our study was to investigate the cascade of effects of these agroecological measures on honey bee colony development and winter survival. We (1) determined the effect of these measures on colony size during the nectar and pollen collecting season in spring and summer, (2) evaluated the effect of spring and summer colony sizes on autumn size, and (3) described the effect of colony size in autumn on winter mortality. In this study, 300 honey bee colonies were monitored over three years in three cantons of Switzerland. Colony size was defined by the numbers of brood cells and of adult workers. Honey bee colony size in summer and autumn was improved by agroecological measures on meadows and likely contributed to the increased overwintering success. This study is a first step toward the targeted identification of viable agroecological measures on temporary meadows that can be implemented to promote honey bee colonies health in the agricultural landscape.

How species diversity influences ecosystem functioning has been the subject of many experiments and remains a key question for ecology and conservation biology. However, the fact that diversity cannot be manipulated without affecting species composition makes this quest methodologically challenging. Here, we evaluate the relative importance of diversity and of composition on biomass production, by using partial Mantel tests for one variable while controlling for the other. We analyse two datasets, from the Jena (2002–2008) and the Grandcour (2008–2009) Experiments. In both experiments, plots were sown with different numbers of species to unravel mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF). Contrary to Jena, plots were neither mowed nor weeded in Grandcour, allowing external species to establish. Based on the diversity–ecosystem functioning and competition theories, we tested two predictions: 1) the contribution of composition should increase with time; 2) the contribution of composition should be more important in non-weeded than in controlled systems. We found support for the second hypothesis, but not for the first. On the contrary, the contribution of species richness became markedly more important few years after the start of the Jena Experiment. This result can be interpreted as suggesting that species complementarity, rather than intraspecific competition, is the driving force in this system. Finally, we explored to what extent the estimated relative importance of both factors varied when measured on different spatial scales of the experiment (in this case, increasing the number of plots included in the analyses). We found a strong effect of scale, suggesting that comparisons between studies, and more generally the extrapolation of results from experiments to natural situations, should be made with caution.

Methods for the evaluation and comparison of the structure of numerous honeybee colonies are needed for the development of applied and fundamental field research, as well as to evaluate how the structure and activity of honeybee colonies evolve over time. ColEval complements existing methods, as it uses an online reference image bank for (human) learning and training purposes. ColEval is based on the evaluation of the surface area percentage occupied by different components of a honeybee colony: adult worker bees, open and capped brood, honey, nectar, and pollen. This method is an essential tool for the description of the evolution in the size of honeybee colonies. The procedure makes allowances for tendencies between different observers and uses them to calculate accurate measurements of honeybee colony evaluation. ColEval thus allows for a posteriori comparison of under- or over-evaluation made by different observers working on the same project; it is thus possible to eliminate observer bias in the measurements and to conduct large surveys.