15 1. Pesticide exposure has been implicated as a contributor to insect pollinator declines. In social 16 bees, which are crucial pollination service providers, the effect of low-level chronic exposure is 17 typically non-lethal leading researchers to consider whether exposure induces sub-lethal effects 18 on behaviour and whether such impairment can affect colony development. 19 2. Studies under laboratory conditions can control levels of pesticide exposure and elucidate 20 causative effects,

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... ut are often criticised for being unrealistic. In contrast, field studies can 21 monitor bee responses under a more realistic pesticide exposure landscape; yet typically such 22 that our methodology is an important advance to previous semi-field methods and should be 41 considered when considering improvements to current ecotoxicological guidelines for pesticide 42 risk assessment. 43 44