According to new research from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, exposure to thiamethoxam, a neonicotinoid pesticide, reduces a bumblebee's ability to start a new colony.

The researchers studied more than 300 queen bees, roughly half of which were, over the course of two weeks, exposed to pesticide levels similar to those found in pollen and nectar. They then recorded their egg-laying behavior and mortality rates for ten weeks.

The bumblebee queens that were exposed to the pesticide were 26 percent less likely to lay eggs and start a new colony. The researchers then used a mathematical model to conclude that such a decline could bring about the extinction of wild bumblebees.

Read the full study at https://tinyurl.com/ybzza2h3.