Risk to Pollinators from the Use of Chlorpyrifos in the United States - Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - page 216

Risk to Pollinators from the Use
of Chlorpyrifos in the United States

G. Christopher Cutler, John Purdy, John P. Giesy,
and Keith R. Solomon

1 Introduction

Pollinators are crucial species of almost all natural and artificial terrestrial ecosys-
tems (Garibaldi et al. 2013 ; NAS 2007 ). While most of the world's food supply,
including important crops such as cereals, are mainly wind pollinated, more than
three-quarters of angiosperms rely on animals for pollination and approximately
75% of the leading global fruit-, vegetable-, and seed-crops depend at least partially
on animal pollination (Klein et al. 2007 ). Most animal pollination is done by insects,
particularly bees. In the United States (U.S.) and Canada, the production of crops
that require or benefit from pollination by insects is large. It is estimated that the
pollination services of the European honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Apidae), are
worth over $15 billion annually to U.S. agriculture, and the value of non- Apis pol-
linators to production of crops is estimated to be over $11 billion (Calderone 2012 ;
Morse and Calderone 2000 ). In addition to helping ensure a diverse supply of food
for humans, pollination plays a critical role in providing the basis for essential eco-
system productivity and services (Kevan et al. 1990 ; Kevan 1999 ).