Wild bees face significant welfare threats from pesticide exposure, habitat loss, and disease. Neonicotinoid pesticides in particular cause sublethal effects that impair bee navigation, learning, and reproduction.
Individual bees exposed to sublethal pesticide doses experience neurological impairment that reduces their ability to navigate home, communicate with nestmates, and care for brood. Colony-level consequences of these individual impairments include starvation, reproductive failure, and collapse. Reducing pesticide use and improving landscape forage quality directly benefits bee welfare.