Due to their foraging behavior, honey bees interact with the landscape. As a result, honey bees and their brood will be exposed to pesticides through nectar and pollen entering the hive. Although these pathways seem rather straightforward, there are several steps between the entry of nectar and pollen and its consumption by the colony. One of the aspects involved here is the time between collection and consumption of pollen in the hive. This is of importance for the actual exposure of nurse bees and larvae to pesticides in pollen. Although lab and short-term field studies indicated that bees prefer to consume freshly stored pollen, this has to our knowledge not been verified in a long-term field study under realistic environmental and apiculturist conditions. To study pollen consumption dynamics, influx and consumption were recorded at 3 or 4 day intervals over a six-week period in two colonies. It was demonstrated that throughout the experimental period, beebread consumption was high in the first 3 to 5 days after collection, over which approximately 70% was consumed. The remaining 30% was consumed within a 2 to 3 week period. Pollen consumption is swift and indicates that only limited time is available for potential degradation processes. As actual data on degradation of pesticides in stored pollen are not available, a justified worse case assumption would be that the actual exposure concentrations consumed by the nurse bees and larvae are the same as the concentrations in collected pollen.

由于它们的觅食行为，蜜蜂与景观相互作用。因此，蜜蜂和它们的后代会通过进入蜂巢的花蜜和花粉接触到杀虫剂。尽管这些途径看起来相当简单，但在花蜜和花粉进入和被菌落消耗之间有几个步骤。这里涉及的方面之一是蜂巢中花粉的收集和消耗之间的时间。这对于保育蜂和幼虫实际接触花粉中的杀虫剂很重要。尽管实验室和短期实地研究表明蜜蜂更喜欢食用新鲜储存的花粉，但据我们所知，这尚未在现实​​环境和养蜂人条件下的长期实地研究中得到证实。为了研究花粉消耗动态，在 6 周的时间内，在两个菌落中以 3 或 4 天的间隔记录流入和消耗。结果表明，在整个实验期间，蜜蜂面包在采集后的前 3 至 5 天的消耗量很高，在此期间大约消耗了 70%。剩余的 30% 在 2 到 3 周内被消耗掉。花粉消耗很快，表明潜在的降解过程只有有限的时间。由于没有关于储存花粉中农药降解的实际数据，一个合理的更坏情况假设是，保姆和幼虫消耗的实际暴露浓度与收集的花粉中的浓度相同。在收集后的前 3 至 5 天，蜜蜂面包的消耗量很高，在此期间大约消耗了 70%。剩余的 30% 在 2 到 3 周内被消耗掉。花粉消耗很快，表明用于潜在降解过程的时间有限。由于没有关于储存花粉中农药降解的实际数据，一个合理的更坏情况假设是，保姆和幼虫消耗的实际暴露浓度与收集的花粉中的浓度相同。在收集后的前 3 至 5 天，蜜蜂面包的消耗量很高，在此期间大约消耗了 70%。剩余的 30% 在 2 到 3 周内被消耗掉。花粉消耗很快，表明潜在的降解过程只有有限的时间。由于没有关于储存花粉中农药降解的实际数据，一个合理的更坏情况假设是，保姆和幼虫消耗的实际暴露浓度与收集的花粉中的浓度相同。