A popular insecticide used on farms across Canada has been shown to have dire effects on ground-nesting bees, according to new research from the University of Guelph.
Female hoary squash bees, workhorse pollinators on pumpkin and squash farms, dug 85 percent fewer nests when exposed to crops treated with the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid, the research indicates. Those bees also collected significantly less pollen and produced 89 percent fewer offspring, the study shows.
