TY - JOUR 
A1 - Calvo-Agudo, Miguel
AU - Dregni, Jonathan
AU - González-Cabrera, Joel
AU - Dicke, Marcel
AU - Heimpel, George E.
AU - Tena, Alejandro
T1 - Neonicotinoids from coated seeds toxic for honeydew-feeding biological control agents
Y1 - 2021
SN - 0269-7491
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/7689
AB - Seed coating (‘seed treatment’) is the leading delivery method of neonicotinoid insecticides in major crops such as soybean, wheat, cotton and maize. However, this prophylactic use of neonicotinoids is widely discussed from the standpoint of environmental costs. Growing soybean plants from neonicotinoid-coated seeds in field, we demonstrate that soybean aphids (Aphis glycines) survived the treatment, and excreted honeydew containing neonicotinoids. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that honeydew excreted by the soybean aphid contained substantial concentrations of neonicotinoids even one month after sowing of the crop. Consuming this honeydew reduced the longevity of two biological control agents of the soybean aphid, the predatory midge Aphidoletes aphidimyza and the parasitic wasp Aphelinus certus. These results have important environmental and economic
implications because honeydew is the main carbohydrate source for many beneficial insects in agricultural landscapes.
KW - Thiamethoxam
KW - Parasitic wasps
KW - Predatory midges
KW - Soybean Aphids
KW - H10  Pests of plants
KW - T01  Pollution
KW - Seed coating
KW - Aphis glycines
LA - en
PB - Elsevier
ER -