ArticleToxics2021
Are Honey Bees at Risk from Microplastics?
Article in Toxics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bees and Microplastic Studies: A Systematic Review.Neotropical entomology · 2025Pooled it
- Microplastic exposure and human health risks across the life cycle: a focus on reproduction, development, and aging.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Environmental pollution effect on honey bees and their derived products: a comprehensive analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025Review
- Harnessing Electrostatic Forces: A Review of Bees as Bioindicators for Particulate Matter Detection.Insects · 2025Review
- Plastic pollution in agricultural landscapes: an overlooked threat to pollination, biocontrol and food security.Nature communications · 2024Review
- The role of the veterinary diagnostic toxicologist in apiary health.Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc · 2023Article
- Emerging threats and opportunities to managed bee species in European agricultural systems: a horizon scan.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Microplastics: A Real Global Threat for Environment and Food Safety: A State of the Art Review.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Article
- Microplastics Derived from Food Packaging Waste-Their Origin and Health Risks.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Exposure to polystyrene microplastic beads causes sex-specific toxic effects in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Insights into the Role of Natural Products in the Control of the Honey Bee Gut Parasite (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 7 institutions in 8 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous and persistent pollutants, and have been detected in a wide variety of media, from soils to aquatic systems. MPs, consisting primarily of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyacrylamide polymers, have recently been found in 12% of samples of honey collected in Ecuador. Recently, MPs have also been identified in honey bees collected from apiaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as nearby semiurban and rural areas. Given these documented exposures, assessment of their effects is critical for understanding the risks of MP exposure to honey bees. Exposure to polystyrene (PS)-MPs decreased diversity of the honey bee gut microbiota, followed by changes in gene expression related to oxidative damage, detoxification, and immunity. As a result, the aim of this perspective was to investigate whether wide-spread prevalence of MPs might have unintended negative effects on health and fitness of honey bees, as well as to draw the scientific community's attention to the possible risks of MPs to the fitness of honey bees. Several research questions must be answered before MPs can be considered a potential threat to bees.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.