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Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health
Amidst ongoing declines in honey bee health, the contributory role of the newer systemic insecticides continues to be intensely debated. Scores of toxicological field experiments, which bee scientists and regulators in the United States have looked to for definitive causal evidence, indicate a lack...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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MDPI
2013
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553434/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26466800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4010153 |
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author | Suryanarayanan, Sainath |
author_facet | Suryanarayanan, Sainath |
author_sort | Suryanarayanan, Sainath |
collection | PubMed |
description | Amidst ongoing declines in honey bee health, the contributory role of the newer systemic insecticides continues to be intensely debated. Scores of toxicological field experiments, which bee scientists and regulators in the United States have looked to for definitive causal evidence, indicate a lack of support. This paper analyzes the methodological norms that shape the design and interpretation of field toxicological studies. I argue that contemporary field studies of honey bees and pesticides are underpinned by a “control-oriented” approach, which precludes a serious investigation of the indirect and multifactorial ways in which pesticides could drive declines in honey bee health. I trace the historical rise to prominence of this approach in honey bee toxicology to the development of entomology as a science of insecticide development in the United States. Drawing on “complexity-oriented” knowledge practices in ecology, epidemiology, beekeeping and sociology, I suggest an alternative socio-ecological systems approach, which would entail in situ studies that are less concerned with isolating individual factors and more attentive to the interactive and place-based mix of factors affecting honey bee health. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4553434 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-45534342015-10-08 Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health Suryanarayanan, Sainath Insects Essay Amidst ongoing declines in honey bee health, the contributory role of the newer systemic insecticides continues to be intensely debated. Scores of toxicological field experiments, which bee scientists and regulators in the United States have looked to for definitive causal evidence, indicate a lack of support. This paper analyzes the methodological norms that shape the design and interpretation of field toxicological studies. I argue that contemporary field studies of honey bees and pesticides are underpinned by a “control-oriented” approach, which precludes a serious investigation of the indirect and multifactorial ways in which pesticides could drive declines in honey bee health. I trace the historical rise to prominence of this approach in honey bee toxicology to the development of entomology as a science of insecticide development in the United States. Drawing on “complexity-oriented” knowledge practices in ecology, epidemiology, beekeeping and sociology, I suggest an alternative socio-ecological systems approach, which would entail in situ studies that are less concerned with isolating individual factors and more attentive to the interactive and place-based mix of factors affecting honey bee health. MDPI 2013-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4553434/ /pubmed/26466800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4010153 Text en © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
spellingShingle | Essay Suryanarayanan, Sainath Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title | Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title_full | Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title_fullStr | Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title_full_unstemmed | Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title_short | Balancing Control and Complexity in Field Studies of Neonicotinoids and Honey Bee Health |
title_sort | balancing control and complexity in field studies of neonicotinoids and honey bee health |
topic | Essay |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553434/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26466800 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4010153 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT suryanarayanansainath balancingcontrolandcomplexityinfieldstudiesofneonicotinoidsandhoneybeehealth |