Maryann Frazier (Photo courtesy of Penn State University)

"Pesticides may be necessary in today's cropping systems but large monocultures have resulted in the need for significant use of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides," Frazier says. "New chemistries, such as neonicitinoids have their advantages but the persistent use of synthetic pesticides, especially in bee-pollinated crops and/or crops visited by bees to collect nectar or pollen, such as corn, has resulted in significant pesticide exposure to bees."

"Over the past seven years our lab has analyzed over 1,200 samples of mainly pollen, wax, bees and flowers for 171 pesticides and metabolites. We have found 129 different compounds in nearly all chemical classes, including organophosphates, pyrethroids, carbamates, neonicotinoids, chlorinated cyclodienes, organochlorines, insect growth regulators, fungicides, herbicides, synergists, and formamidines. Further, we have identified up to 31 different pesticides in a single pollen sample, and 39 in a single wax sample. An average of 6.7 chemicals are found in pollen samples.   However, the pesticides found most often and at the highest levels are miticides used by beekeepers for the control of varroa mites."

In her talk, Frazier will discuss these results and additional studies and concerns about "the synergistic effects of pesticides, systemic pesticides and sub-lethal impacts, including those on immune function, memory and learning and longevity, as well as the question of toxicity associated with adjuvants/inert ingredients."

Helping to coordinate the event is Mea McNeil of San Anselmo, master beekeeper and writer. Assistant professor Brian Johnson is the seminar coordinator for the spring quarter.

Frazier received her bachelor of science degree in agriculture education from Penn State University in 1980. In 1983 she completed a masters of agriculture in entomology at Penn State, specializing in apiculture. She has worked as the assistant state apiary inspector in Maryland, and for two years as a beekeeping specialist in Sudan and later in Central America.

For the past 25 years, Frazier has held the position of senior extension associate in the Department of Entomology at Penn State and is responsible for honey bee extension throughout the state and cooperatively across the Mid-Atlantic region. She works collaboratively with other members of PSU Department of Entomology to understand how pesticides are impacting honey bees and other pollinators. In addition, she works with a team of U.S. and Kenyan researchers to understand the impacts of newly introduced varroa mites on East African honey bee subspecies and helping Kenyan beekeepers become more productive.

Frazier has taught courses in beekeeping, general entomology and teacher education and is involved with the  Department of Entomology's innovative public outreach program.

Frazier appears in a YouTube video, posted July 23, 2012 on the declining bee population. The brief clip was excerpted from Frazier's Spring 2012 Research Unplugged talk titled "Disappearing Bees: An Update on the Search for Prime Suspects." The abstract: She discusses the decline of pollinators and the prime suspects behind it. Some of these suspects include the use of pesticides, on both small and large scales, that destroy food sources for bees; agribusiness practices such as monocropping, in which the same single crop is planted year after year, eliminating the plant diversity pollinators need; stress caused by transporting the bees across country for commercial pollination needs; and threats such as nosema disease, viruses and mites.

Her April 2nd talk is the first in a series of departmental spring seminars that will conclude June 4. The remainder of the department's spring seminars:

April 9:
Edwin Lewis, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

April 16:
John Jaenike, professor and chair, Department of Biology, University of Rochester, New York

April 23:
Elizabeth Tibbetts, associate professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

April 30:
Eric Lonsdorf, conservation scientist, Chicago Botanic Garden

May 7:
Riccardo Bommarco, professor, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

May 14:
Leithen M'Gonigle, postdoctoral fellow, Claire Kremen lab, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley

May 21:
May Berenbaum, professor and department head, Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

May 28:
Andrea Lucky, evolutionary biologist and biodiversity scientist, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University Florida, Gainesville (and UC Davis alumnus; doctorate in entomology, Phil Ward lab)

June 4:
Katharina Ullmann, graduate student, Neal Williams lab, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis

Under the direction of professor James R. Carey, plans call for all the seminars to be recorded for later posting on UCTV.