Coordinator: DISTAL - Unibo
Scientific Officer: Fabio Sgolastra
Duration: 12/10/2023 - 12/10/2025
Research group: Fabio Sgolastra.
Insect pollinators are experiencing strong declines, partly driven by pesticides and other chemical pollutants. Most ecotoxicological studies have focused on insecticides while other products, such as fungicides and herbicides, and other chemical pollutants, such as heavy metals and veterinary drugs, have received less attention. Though non-insecticide compounds are considered safe for bees, their impacts cannot be excluded. In addition, most ecotoxicological studies are limited to the honey bee, Apis mellifera even though insect pollinators comprise 250,000 species. POLYPOLL main goal is to cover these gaps by assessing the impact of different chemical pollutants on three model species: A. mellifera, Osmia bicornis and Eristalinus aeneus.