LINGUIST 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Pest Control, Food Security

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LINGUIST 1AA3
• Professor: Catherine Anderson

Document Summary

The risk to pollinators from pesticides is through toxicity and level of exposure. The risk varies through the species biology, such as a certain bees" ability to metabolize toxins, as well as other factors. An example is the use of herbicides, which reduce the abundance and diversity of flowering plants in effect reducing the pollen and nectar that pollinators receive. In addition, pesticides can have a broad range of lethal effects on pollinators, which cause them to reduce the pollination service they provide. However, results in this field of research vary based on the particular pollinating species studied, and the type of pesticide used. In general, there is still a lot of gap in our knowledge about the direct effects of pesticide use on pollination. Most of the research done has only been tested on a limited range of pesticides on only a few bee species.