Browsing by Subject "Pestizid"

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Assessment of hydrology and dynamics of pesticides in a tropical headwater catchment in Northern Thailand
(2013) Hugenschmidt, Cindy; Streck, Thilo
The dissertation deals with assessment of hydrology and the dynamics of pesticides in a tropical headwater catchment in northern Thailand. Rainfall and runoff characteristics are recorded and investigated, pesticide dynamics during single events are monitored and studied. Finally, a hydrological model is applied.
Constraints on microbial pesticide degradation in soils
(2023) Wirsching, Johannes; Kandeler, Ellen
Pesticides are an essential component of intensified agriculture and have contributed significantly to the increase in food production observed in recent decades. Since 1960, pesticide use has increased by a factor of fifteen to twenty, representing a market value of $40 billion in 2016. Soil monitoring campaigns to track pesticide contamination of croplands across Europe are quantifying pesticide residues whose residence times in soils exceed expected values. Diffuse contamination by pesticide residues raises concerns about soil functions, soil biodiversity, and food safety, as well as the transport of contaminants by wind and water to surface waters or to adjacent, organically managed croplands. Data on the frequency of occurrence and concentrations of pesticide residues in soil demonstrate a discrepancy between the determination of persistence and subsequent approval and their actual fate in soil. This raises the question of whether degradability of individual organic compounds has been adequately studied. Microbiological degradation is the most important process for reducing pesticide loads in soils. A reliable estimate of pesticide residence time requires an expanded understanding of the factors limiting microbial degradation. Degradation of anthropogenic organic chemicals in soils occurs much more slowly than would be expected based on their physicochemical properties. While processes that determine the fate of pesticides in soil have often been studied at different spatial and temporal scales, reasons for discrepancies between the observed complete degradation of pesticides under laboratory conditions and their persistence in the field remain unclear. This thesis addresses this challenge by focusing on the central question of why inherently biodegradable compounds in soils display increased persistence under field conditions. Organic contaminants in low but detectable and environmentally significant concentrations could remain in the soil once available concentrations fall below a threshold where bioenergetic growth restrictions come into play. In addition, potential microbial and biophysical limitations and environmental factors such as soil temperature and soil moisture are often examined separately in current degradation studies. Combinations of temperature and soil moisture changes associated with different concentration levels have been less well examined, resulting in an incomplete understanding of the degradation process. Another key factor in the demonstrated discrepancy between predicted and actual persistence in the field could be due to laboratory experiments that cannot account for field-scale processes. Therefore, degradation rates determined in laboratory experiments cannot be confidently extrapolated to the field scale. . This thesis identified further important regulatory mechanisms for microbially mediated pesticide degradation. The previously unknown concentration-dependent degradation dynamics and the concentration-dependent influence of limiting environmental conditions on microbial degradation emphasize the importance of studies using a realistic concentration range. Evidence of deep transport of a highly sorptive pesticide such as glyphosate primarily via preferential flow pathways into the subsoil with lower degradation dynamics underscores the need to include processes that can only be verified in field studies as part of risk assessments. The results of this thesis suggest that the biodegradation rates of pesticides are not homogeneous at field scales and may account in part for the discrepancy between complete degradation of pesticides under laboratory conditions and their persistence in the field. Laboratory studies in which soil samples are pooled and mixed to obtain a single "representative" sample can provide a simplified understanding of the process, but the complexity, particularly that of soil heterogeneity, of pesticide distribution and microbial degradation associated with prevailing climatic conditions, requires calibration of previously used methods in field studies and possibly at landscape, watershed, or regional scales. The scale-dependent degradation aspect will become even more important in the future; as soil properties and processes that control the toxicological aspects of contaminants include temperature and moisture, and changes associated with climate change will lead to an increase in extreme precipitation, longer dry periods, and soil erosion.
Effects of agricultural commercialization on land use and pest management of smallholder upland farms in Thailand
(2016) Grovermann, Suthathip; Berger, Thomas
Over recent years, economic development, policy changes, new technologies and population growth have been motivating farmers in Thailand to intensify and commercialize their production activities. As part of this agricultural commercialization and intensification process, Thai upland farmers have adapted their farming practices to increase crop production and productivity levels. This thesis clearly demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between land use intensification/commercialization and the use of chemical-based pest management activities, i.e. farmers have increasingly relied on the use of chemicals for the protection of their crops. As part of the agricultural intensification and commercialization process, concerns about the potentially negative impact of pesticide use is often downplayed, while the benefits of pesticide use in terms of improved crop returns ignore the indirect costs they also incur. This has also led to a situation in which local farmers do not always use pesticides in an appropriate way; they tend to overuse and misuse the chemicals, to avoid losses among their high-value crops. Due to farmers’ limited awareness of and lack of protection against the potential dangers inherent in chemical pesticide use, they still use pesticides which contain cheap compounds such as the herbicides Paraquat and Glyphosate. The application of these chemicals is restricted in a number of other countries, but these represent two of the three most commonly used pesticides in the study area. The survey described here sought to provide evidence that agricultural commercialization in Thailand over recent years has led to a reduction in the variety of pest management practices applied, and that many Thai farmers have become completely dependent on the use of agrochemicals, expecting that this approach will fully prevent any losses in crop yields. In this context, it can be observed that farmers have become locked into using chemical pest control methods, creating a situation in which attempting to control one risk through the increasingly heavy and exclusive use of pesticides, has led to a number of other, new risks developing. This research also reveals that market prices, pests and diseases have become the dominant risks affecting farm performance within the Thai commercial farm sector, while among Thai subsistence farmers the loss of family labor is of key concern. The farmers in the study area have a variety of attitudes towards risk, and differences in expected rates of return influence the types of risk protection tools used. The findings show that agricultural commercialization is associated with a rapid adoption of synthetic pesticides and an exponential growth in the quantity of pesticides applied per hectare. As the risk management strategies used by commercial farmers are mostly aimed at crop protection, they use large quantities of synthetic pesticides to manage crop pests and diseases. The present research also finds that the effectiveness of pesticide use increases significantly as levels of commercialization increase. Pesticide use is perceived as increasingly useful in this process, being considered an essential factor for raising agricultural output and farm income. However, there is a need to pay more attention to the potentially adverse effects of pesticide use on human health and the environment and to improve producers’ level of understanding of the risks involved in pesticide use, which will help them make better decisions regarding the risks and consequences involved. A number of studies have suggested that pesticide regulations in Thailand should be better enforced, that consumer demand for certified products should be encouraged, and that training on food safety should be offered to farmers. The Thai government has reacted to these calls by introducing policies and projects aimed at the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices; however, these policies have not been promoted effectively, and so have not fixed the core problem. The Q-GAP program is a good example of this. This thesis reveals that Thai upland farmers still do not understand the logic behind the program introduced, and so lack any motivation to follow sustainable farming practices. This situation is made worse by the lack of any effective program implementation and follow-up activities, such as farm auditing. The Q-GAP program has been implemented with a strong focus on farm auditing and residue testing, and little focus on the positive consequences of a reduction in pesticide use levels. The program also does not provide farmers with suitable alternatives to manage their pest problems. Certified farmers continue to almost entirely depend on synthetic pest control. In principle, under the program farmers are encouraged to practice integrated pest management (IPM) methods in order to achieve Q-GAP certification. But it was found that a considerable number of farmers were not familiar with the term IPM and have a limited understanding of the approach. IPM offers alternative pest management methods to farmers and also takes into account traditional pest control methods, not just the use of pesticides. Therefore it could have a positive role to play in helping to reduce pesticide use. However, in reality, the promotion of integrated pest management methods is not enough in isolation. As this thesis shows by means of an ex-ante assessment of pesticide use reduction strategies with the MPMAS simulation package, the use of a combination of measures, such as the promotion of IPM through financial adoption incentives combined with the introduction of a sizeable sales tax on pesticides, could lead to a very substantial reduction in pesticide use – by up to 34% on current levels, without adversely effecting general farm income levels. Thus, policymakers should promote alternative pesticide use reduction strategies by combining pesticide taxation with the introduction of integrated pest management methods, the application of a price premium on safe agricultural produce or the introduction of subsidies for bio-pesticides. Furthermore, there is a need to raise farmers awareness about pesticide risks and to increase investment in the diffusion of integrated pest management practices. Thai upland farmers might be willing to introduce more sustainable agricultural methods if they were to fully understand the consequences of pesticide use on their health and the environment, as well as know more about the biology, behaviors and physiology of the pests themselves. Building knowledge is critical in this regard. To achieve this, there needs to be more interaction between researchers, extension workers and farmers, plus more policy options introduced to support farmers in their transition to a more market-oriented production environment.
Effects of chronic pesticide and pathogen exposure on honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) health at the colony level
(2018) Odemer, Richard; Bessei, Werner
During the last decade the increasing number of honey bee colony losses has become a major concern of beekeepers and scientists worldwide. Extensive research and cooperation projects have been established to unravel this phenomenon. Among parasites, pathogens and environmental factors, the use of agrochemicals, most notably the class of neonicotinoid insecticides, are suspected to be a key factor for this collapse. Current approaches not only focus on colony collapse but also on the weakening of honey bees by the exposure to sublethal concentrations of such pesticides. Recently, the EFSA temporarily banned three neonicotinoids including clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, for the use in crops attractive to pollinators. Thiacloprid however, likewise a neonicotinoid insecticide, is still tolerated for agricultural use because it is considered less toxic to bees. Nevertheless, some publications indicate sublethal effects of this agent leading to impairments of the colony. A general problem for the study of such sublethal effects is that they often are measurable in individual bees without eliciting clear impact at the colony level. In addition, such effects might only have a consequence in combination with other stressors like pathogens. This thesis presents two new methodical approaches combining the controlled application of stressors to individual bees with an evaluation of the effects under field realistic conditions of free flying colonies. In all approaches, the bees were treated with a combination of different pesticides and/or a combination of pesticides and a pathogen in order to evaluate synergistic interactions. As pathogen, Nosema ceranae, a novel intracellular gut parasite introduced from Asia, was used. This parasite is considered to contribute to “CCD”-like symptoms (“colony collapse disorder”), particularly in Spain. In Retschnig et al. (2015), observation hives at two study sites (Hohenheim and Bern) were used to clarify possible synergistic effects when honey bees are exposed to pesticides of two different substance classes (thiacloprid and tau-fluvalinate), both in combination with an infection of N. ceranae. Mortality, flight activity and social behaviour of individually marked and treated worker bees were monitored. At the Hohenheim site, no impact from any of the treatments could be confirmed except a slightly higher flight activity of the Nosema treated bees. At the Bern site however, the pesticide treatments elicited a significant reduction of worker bee lifespan, whereas the Nosema infection resulted in higher ratios of motionless periods. Importantly and in contrast to several laboratory studies, in neither of the two sites an interaction among the pesticides and the pathogen could be confirmed. The inconsistency of our results suggests that the effects of both, sublethal application of pesticides and infection with N. ceranae were rather weak and that interaction among them may have been overemphasized. To extend this first approach in small observation colonies, Odemer & Rosenkranz (2018) focused on performance parameters such as colony development and overwintering in honey bee colonies, using the same pesticides as in the observation hives. Here, neither the single exposure to thiacloprid or tau-fluvalinate nor their combination had negative effects on the colony performance. However, the chronic application of the tau-fluvalinate significantly reduced the infestation with Varroa mites. In Odemer et al. (2018), a neonicotinoid (clothianidin) with an extraordinary high toxicity to bees was applied alone and in combination with N. ceranae and N. apis. A novel approach was developed with individually marked bees that were infected after hatching with a certain number of Nosema spores and introduced into mini-hives. In order to simulate worst case field conditions, the pesticide was then applied chronically in sublethal concentrations over the whole lifespan of the bees. Again in contrast to previous laboratory studies, no effect of the clothianidin treatment on mortality or flight activity could be observed. However, the lifespan of Nosema infected bees was significantly reduced compared to non-infected bees, but in agreement with the observation hive experiment, the combination of pesticide and pathogen did not reveal any synergistic effect. The results of the three experiments of this thesis indicate that (i) individual honey bees are less impaired by neonicotinoids if kept within the social environment of the colony and that (ii) sublethal concentrations of neonicotinoids in the field are not the main driver for colony losses. These statements refer exclusively to the honey bee colony as a eusocial superorganism that obviously is more resilient to pesticide exposure through mechanisms of “social buffering”.
Equifinality, sloppiness and emergent minimal structures of biogeochemical models
(2019) Marschmann, Gianna; Streck, Thilo
Process-based biogeochemical models consider increasingly the control of microorganisms on biogeochemical processes. These models are used for a number of important purposes, from small-scale (mm-cm) controls on pollutant turnover to impacts of global climate change. A major challenge is to validate mechanistic descriptions of microbial processes and predicted emergent system responses against experimental observations. The validity of model assumptions for microbial activity in soil is often difficult to assess due to the scarcity of experimental data. Therefore, most complex biogeochemical models suffer from equifinality, i.e. many different model realizations lead to the same system behavior. In order to minimize parameter equifinality and prediction uncertainty in biogeochemical modeling, a key question is to determine what can and cannot be inferred from available data. My thesis aimed at solving the problem of equifinality in biogeochemical modeling. Thereby, I opted to test a novel mathematical framework (the Manifold Boundary Approximation Method) that allows to systematically tailor the complexity of biogeochemical models to the information content of available data.
High-throughput planar solid phase extraction
a new clean-up concept in multi-residue analysis of pesticides
(2014) Oellig, Claudia; Schwack, Wolfgang
Currently, the most serious problems in pesticide residue analysis by liquid chromatography (LC) or gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) concern the so-called “matrix effects”. The most common way to avoid these effects is the application of matrix-matched calibration standards. Nevertheless, an efficient clean-up undoubtedly is the best way to prevent matrix effects in multi-residue analysis of pesticides in food by LC–MS or GC–MS. For a totally new powerful clean-up method, called high-throughput planar solid phase extraction (HTpSPE), highly automated planar chromatographic tools were applied to remove co-extracted matrix substances entirely and to eliminate any kind of matrix related effects. For sample extraction, the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method was used to initially collect pesticides from fruits and vegetables. The received acetonitrile extracts were applied directly for the development of the novel HTpSPE clean-up. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was used to completely separate pesticides from matrix compounds and to focus them into a sharp zone. A two-fold development on amino-modified silica gel thin-layers with acetonitrile for the first development, and acetone for the second development in the backwards direction, was evaluated to perform the best clean-up result and collect the pesticides in a sharp, single target zone. To easily locate the pesticide zone, the Sudan II dye was added to the extracts. Following this clean-up, the target zones (pesticides) were eluted by the TLC–MS interface into vials for the LC–MS determination. HTpSPE resulted in extracts which were nearly free of co-extracted matrix and matrix effects, as shown for seven chemically representative pesticides (acetamiprid, azoxystrobin, chlorpyrifos, fenarimol, mepanipyrim, penconazole, and pirimicarb) in four different fruit and vegetable matrices (apples, cucumbers, red grapes, and tomatoes). Thanks to the very clean HTpSPE extracts, calibration can simply be performed with pure solvent standards and the quantitation by LC–MS provided excellent mean recoveries and relative standard deviations. In addition, tea samples as rather challenging matrices were chosen to apply for HTpSPE. The matrix load of tea extracts generally was too high for the available thin-layer capacity and the selectivity of the amino-modified phase was not suitable for the separation of caffeine and further matrix compounds from the target analytes (pesticides). By modifying the sample extraction, adding a pre-cleaning by dispersive solid phase extraction (dSPE) and changing the thin-layer phase to normal phase silica gel, the complete separation of pesticides and tea matrix components was possible, when again a two-fold development was applied. Caffeine and other alkaloids were completely removed. The effectiveness of HTpSPE was demonstrated by LC–MS/MS calibration curves from matrix-matched and solvent standards, which were nearly identical and by very good mean recoveries, calculated against pure solvent standards. Concerning all validation parameters, the new acetonitrile-HTpSPE procedure for tea samples was superior to the QuEChERS-dSPE method and offered highly successful results. In recent years, large-scale screening in pesticide residue analysis has gained more and more importance. Keeping this in mind, a screening strategy for HTpSPE extracts, using a high-resolution MS, was developed to analyze the cleaned extracts directly for pesticide residues without a liquid chromatographic separation. By this hyphenation, a completely new microliter-flow injection analysis–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (µL-FIA–TOFMS) screening was introduced. The novel HTpSPE–µL-FIA–TOFMS approach enabled the detection of all pesticides simultaneously in a single mass spectrum within a few minutes. The obtained mass spectra were nearly free of matrix compounds, which is especially the great benefit of the effective HTpSPE clean-up. Recovery studies by HTpSPE–µL-FIA–TOFMS against solvent standards for the matrices and pesticides under study provided excellent results, using the mass signal intensities under the entire FIA sample peak. HTpSPE clearly showed superior results concerning every tested parameter than dSPE. With the help of a self-constructed mass database searching tool, all spiked pesticides were detected and correctly identified, while only very low numbers of false-positive findings occurred. Furthermore, a non-target screening approach was successfully implemented by slightly changing the database searching process, offering a mass list of all substances, which are present in the injected extracts but not included in the mass database. Finally, the new HTpSPE–µL-FIA–TOFMS screening was successfully applied to several real samples, when the identified pesticides were quite identical compared to results of LC–MS/MS analysis of the QuEChERS-dSPE extracts.
Modeling microbial regulation of pesticide turnover in soils
(2022) Chavez Rodriguez, Luciana; Streck, Thilo
Pesticides are widely used for pest control in agriculture. Besides their intended use, their long-term fate in real systems is not well understood. They may persist in soils, thereby altering ecosystem functioning and ultimately affecting human health. Pesticide fate is assessed through dissipation experiments in the laboratory or the field. While field experiments provide a close representation of real systems, they are often costly and can be influenced by many unknown or uncontrollable variables. Laboratory experiments, on the other hand, are cheaper and have good control over the governing variables, but due to simplification, extrapolation of the results to real systems can be limited. Mechanistic models are a powerful tool to connect lab and field data and help us to improve our process understanding. Therefore, I used mechanistic, process-based models to assess key microbial regulations of pesticide degradation. I tested my model hypotheses with two pesticide classes: i) chlorophenoxy herbicides (MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 2,4-D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid)), and ii) triazines (atrazine (AT)), in an ideal scenario, where bacterial degraders and pesticides are co-localized. This thesis explores some potential controls of pesticide degradation in soils: i) regulated gene expression, ii) mass-transfer process across the bacterial cell membranes, iii) bioenergetic constraints, and iv) environmental factors (soil temperature and moisture). The models presented in this thesis show that including microbial regulations improves predictions of pesticide degradation, compared to conventional models based on Monod kinetics. The gene-centric models achieved a better representation of microbial dynamics and enable us to explore the relationship between functional genes and process rates, and the models that used transition state theory to account for bioenergetic constraints improved the description of degradation at low concentrations. However, the lack of informative data for the validation of model processes hampered model development. Therefore, in the fourth part of this thesis, I used atrazine with its rather complex degradation pathway to apply a prospective optimal design method to find the optimal experimental designs to enable us identifying the degradation pathway present in a given environment. The optimal designs found suggest to prioritize determining metabolites and biomass of specific degraders, which are not typically measured in environmental fate studies. These data will lead to more robust model formulations for risk assessment and decision-making. With this thesis, I revealed important regulations of pesticide degradation in soils that help to improve process understanding and model predictions. I provided simple model formulations, for example the Hill function for gene expression and transition state theory for bioenergetic growth constraints, which can easily be integrated into biogeochemical models. My thesis covers initial but essential steps towards a predictive pesticide degradation model usable for risk assessment and decision-making. I also discuss implication for further research, in particular how mechanistic process-based modeling could be combined with new technologies like omics and machine learning.
Nutrient flow in improved upland aquaculture systems in Yen Chau, province Son La (Vietnam)
(2014) Pucher, Johannes Gregor; Focken, Ulfert
In South-East Asia, pond aquaculture plays an important role in the integrated agriculture aquaculture systems of small-scale farmers and contributes to their food security and income. In mountainous regions, aquaculture differs from aquaculture that is practiced in the lowland due to differences in climate and availability of feeds, fertilizers and water. In Northern Vietnam, the traditional aquaculture is a polyculture of 5-7 fish species. The macro-herbivorous grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is stocked as the main species. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala), mud carp (Cirrhinus molitorella) and Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) are stocked as secondary species and are often insufficiently nourished by farm by-products. Manure is used by farmers as fertilizer for natural food resources. Ponds are managed as a constant water flow-through system. The inflowing water introduces soil particles eroded from the sloping fields of intensively cultured maize and cassava into the ponds, and cause high turbidity that limits both the primary and secondary production. The fish production of this system is low at about 1.5 ± 0.3 t ha-1 a-1 and is mainly limited by the poor quality of pond inputs, low availability of natural food resources, low oxygen production in the ponds and the occurrence of a species-specific disease that causes high mortality in grass carp. To improve the local fish production of small-scale farmers, changes in the traditional pond management were designed and tested in farmers’ ponds in the uplands of Northern Vietnam. These changes included the reduction of water flow through the ponds to reduce the introduction of eroded particles and reduce the turbidity. Chemical fertilizers were added to increase the productivity of natural food resources and encourage higher primary production. The disease-prone grass carp was replaced as the main species by common carp that command a similarly high price on the local markets. To feed the omnivorous common carp, supplemental pellet feeds based mainly on locally available resources were applied to the ponds. In a pond trial, the traditional and modified pond managements were compared for water quality parameters, availability of natural food resources, fish yields, nutrient utilisation efficiencies and monetary net benefit. In a 15N tracer experiment, the nitrogen dynamics in the natural food web in local ponds were compared under the two types of pond management. Acceptability of the modifications by local farmers was evaluated. In a net cage trial, the suitability of earthworm meal as a replacement for fishmeal in supplemental pellet feeds for common carp was tested. In another net cage trial, the effect of pesticide contaminated grass feeds on the feed intake and health condition of grass carp were tested. When compared with traditional pond management, the modified pond management was found to result in reduced water turbidity, deeper phototrophic zones, higher availability of natural food resources, higher primary production and higher fish yield. In addition, the small plankton benefited from the changes and allowed significantly higher growth rates of filter feeding fish. Common carp and grass carp had higher yields due to the changes. Under both types of pond management, nitrogen compounds were assimilated rapidly into the natural food web and there were high rates of sedimentation and re-mobilization of settled nitrogen from the pond bottom. Generally, the modifications to pond management were associated with increased nutrient utilisation efficiencies and resulted in higher net benefits and more stable pond culture conditions. It was shown that plant material from pesticide-treated fields should only be used cautiously as feeds for grass carp because pesticide residues reduce feed intake and adversely affect fish health. Low cost modifications were well accepted by the farmers. Application of supplemental feeds and chemical fertilisers, which required a continual monetary investment, were less well received. The better-educated farmers are more likely to further invest in aquaculture and might act as local adopters. To reduce the costs of feeds for common carp, earthworm has been shown to be suitable as a replacement for fishmeal in feeds. Vermiculture might therefore be a suitable additional farming activity in combination with the implementation of pond management modifications. Formation of fish farmer cooperatives might further increase the acceptability of innovations. The improvements to pond aquaculture that have been developed here may have a beneficial impact on fish production, food security and income of small-scale farmers in the uplands in South-East Asia if the information is suitably transferred through education programmes that train farmers in technologies that have been specially adapted to conditions in the uplands.
Pflanzenschutzmittelrückstände im gehöselten Pollen der Honigbiene (Apis mellifera L.)
Auswirkungen einer feldrealistischen Pflanzenschutzmittelmischung auf Stockbienen und den Larvenfuttersaft
(2017) Böhme, Franziska; Zebitz, Claus P. W.
Pesticides are used worldwide and contaminate air, surfaces, soils and the aquifer. Non-target-organisms and non-target-plants may get into contact with pesticides di-rectly via drift or indirectly via run-off, leaching or sowing dust. Due to pollination services and bee products, the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) is a non-target-organism of major interest for humans. On their flights around the beehive they collect water, pol-len, nectar, honeydew and tree resin. The proteins originating from the pollen are im-portant for nutrition and development of larvae and adults. Pollen is stored and fer-mented inside the hive as beebread and is made of hundreds of pollen loads of differ-ent plants collected over a longer period. Pesticide residue analyses of beebread is a common tool to estimate the contact of honeybees to pesticides in the field. However, such beebread analyses cover a larger time frame and a mixture with uncontaminated pollen will dilute the maximum residue levels of certain plant pollen. Therefore, pesti-cide analysis of bee bread is only an approximate approach to estimate the real pesti-cide exposition. Thus, pollen pellets were collected daily at three distinct sites with differences in agri-cultural intensity in Baden-Württemberg from 2012 - 2016 during the agronomic active season (spring/summer). We wanted to give detailed information on the daily contact to pesticides as well as changing pesticide frequencies and combinations throughout the season. 281 pollen pellet samples, each representing a single day, were analyzed for 282 active ingredients currently used in agricultural practice (publication 1). Huge qualitative and quantitative differences in the pesticide load between the sites were discovered. The meadow site near Göppingen was the least contaminated. In five ob-servation years only 24 different substances were found in 56 % of the samples with concentrations up to 300 µg/kg. The more intensive site in Ertingen is characterized by grains and maize for biogas plants. Only 13 % of the samples were uncontaminated, in the remaining samples 37 substances with maximal concentrations up to 1,500 µg/kg were detected. The site with the highest occurrence of crop protection was close to Heilbronn. Permanent crops such as wine and orchards shape the landscape. The high-est detected concentration was 7,178 µg/kg. All samples were contaminated with up to 58 different substances. During the five years of observation 73 different pesticides were found. Due to admis-sion regulations, there was a high likelihood to find 84 % of these substances in pollen. Twelve substances were found that are either not registered as plant protection prod-ucts or are not supposed to get in contact with bees. This indicates a need for further improvement of seed treatments and increasing awareness of flowering shrubs, field margins and pesticide drift. Concluding from the majority of concentrations and pesti-cides found, we assume no misuse of pesticides by the farmers at our three sites in the observation period, which would lead to direct intoxication. Considering LD50 values, the here detected concentrations are sub-lethal for honeybees. However, at any tested site and in most of the samples a mixture of different pesticides was found. Yet, it is not known, whether there are effects caused by a combination of different pesticides in sub-lethal concentrations when consumed chronically by honeybees. Therefore, we conducted a field experiment with free-flying honeybee colonies (publi-cation 2). Mini-hives containing about 2,500 bees and sister queens were established at the Apicultural State Institute. Queens were confined to an empty frame to receive lar-vae of known age. These bees were intended to feed on pesticides chronically in two crucial life stages. After larvae hatched from the eggs and after adults hatched from the cells they were fed a pollen-honey diet contaminated with a cocktail of twelve dif-ferent active ingredients in field-realistic concentrations. In colonies treated with a pes-ticide mixture, larval weight was higher and acini diameters of the hypopharyngeal glands of nurse bees were smaller than in the untreated control. However, brood termi-nation and adult lifespan did not differ between both groups. Despite feeding a pesti-cide cocktail chronically starting on the first day of larval being, no obvious negative side-effects in worker bees were detected. It raises the question, if nurse bees, which feed on the contaminated pollen-honey diet, produce larval food and feed larvae, serve as a filter system so that larvae would not come into contact with the pesticides. To determine the fate of pesticides originating from the pollen source, we started a queen rearing (publication 3). Frames with 24 h old larvae were hang into queenless free flying mini-hives. At the same time, the colo-nies were fed a pollen-honey diet containing a cocktail of 13 commonly used pesti-cides in high concentrations. The royal jelly (RJ) fed to the larvae by nurse bees was harvested from the queen cells and subjected to a multi-pesticide residue analysis. Sev-en substances were rediscovered in traces (76.5% of all detections were below 1 μg/kg). However, worker larvae older than three days receive a modified jelly, containing pol-len coloring the food yellowish. That is why we were wondering if contaminated pol-len might have a different effect on the food of worker larvae. Queens of free-flying mini hives were caged to receive larvae of known age. The colonies received a pollen-honey diet, contaminated with high concentrations of a pesticide mixture (publication 4, submitted). Worker jelly (WJ) was harvested on four successive days from larval age three to six and subjected to a multi-pesticide residue analysis. Pesticide concentrations increased with larval age and ranged between 2.9 and 871.0 µg/kg for the different substances and age groups. As the increase of substances in the WJ positively corre-lates with the amount of pollen grains counted in the larval food, we were able to show a direct relationship between the administered pollen in the food and the pesticide concentrations. Considering the maximum food uptake rates of a worker larvae, even the highest con-centrations found, would lead solely to sub-lethal amounts. Even for queens, who con-sume RJ not only as larvae but during their whole life would consume only sub-lethal pesticide concentrations. Especially considering the not-field realistic concentrations we chose for our experiments. Probably, the sub-lethal effects found in our first exper-iment are due to the sub-lethal concentrations worker larvae have taken up chronically during their development. Even though we did not detect acute intoxication symptoms and the concentrations in the brood food are sub-lethal, we cannot infer whether there are impairments of fitness or brood success of honeybee colonies in the long term. However, as honeybee colonies are considered as superorganisms, they are able to tol-erate stressors or the loss of individuals. Therefore, the detection of sub-lethal effects on colony-level in the field is difficult. Yet, a vast problem arises with solitary living insects, for example wild bee species, which are more prone to stressors such as pesti-cides. Solitary insects have more restricted flight and collecting areas, get into contact with pesticides in pollen directly as larvae and have almost no buffer capacities.