Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

AutoModerator t1_ivrxabk wrote

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are now allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will continue to be removed and our normal comment rules still apply to other comments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

AllanfromWales1 t1_ivs3pmg wrote

It would be helpful if the summary of the study could make clearer which fertilisers are considered a problem. Clearly this does not apply to all fertilisers. The summary refers to 'synthetic fertilisers and herbicides'. That herbicides are harmful to bees is pretty much a given, but it's unclear (to me) which types of fertilisers this applies to.

2

DomesticApe23 t1_ivso0zg wrote

The most commonly applied fertilizers in horticulture, gardening and increasingly agriculture are compound fluid fertilizers composed of a mixture of nitrogen (N2), Phosphorus Pentoxide (P2O5), Potassium Oxide (K2O), in which N:P:K ratios can differ depending on purpose. Throughout this study, we used a commercially available compound fluid fertilizer (Nitrogen, Phosphorus Pentoxide, Potassium Oxide, 10.6:4.4:1.7; Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany) following manufactures instructions (5mL/L). Neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid (99.7% purity, CAS Number: 138261-41-3) purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Zwijndrecht, The Netherlands). Nominal concentration of imidacloprid was 3.5 μg/L dissolved in demineralized water in glass bottles (Solubility: 610 mg/l H2O at 20 °C). Throughout the study, chemical were applied using a single spray with a commercially available gardening spray bottle.

1

redditaccount71987 t1_ivt6pxu wrote

Pesticides and certain things are banned for flowers and flowering trees and flowers already. Not sure what the end of their research was but they thought for a while it was contributing to CCD and compromising their immune systems.

0

duncandun t1_ivug2zr wrote

What about flies? Flies make up the vast majority of pollinators

1