Clothianidin In Bumblebees
ABSTRACT
Bees are important pollinators, worth over US$150 billion per year worldwide. Populations have been declining for many years due to a variety of stressors in their environment. Parasites and pesticides are a major interacting threat faced by bees. Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid pesticide widely used which comes into contact with bees while they forage on pollen and nectar. To investigate whether field realistic concentrations of clothianidin have an effect on the prevalence of gut parasites Crithidia bombi, Apicystis bombi and Nosema apis in Bombus terrestris, colonies were exposed for two weeks to clothianidin diluted to 1ppb in sugar water. Colonies treated with clothianidin had a higher prevalence of Crithidia bombi than control …show more content…
Pesticides and parasites are major interacting threats to populations (Goulson et al. 2015). There is an increasing diversity of parasites in bumblebees, and infections may have a role in the declines of wild bee populations (Colla et al. 2006; Goulson et al. 2008). The extent to which pesticides can influence the prevalence of harmful gut parasites in bumblebees is little understood. It is important to know how pesticides effect the gut parasites in pollinators as the parasites can have a direct negative affect on colony mortality. The three most common gut parasites found in bumblebees are, Apicystis bombi which is a Neogregarine, Crithidia bombi which is a Trypanosome, and Nosema sp which are microsporidian …show more content…
2012), and can have devastating effects on pollinators (Rundlöf et al. 2015). The majority of the active ingredients (80 – 98%) leach out of treated plants and seeds into the surrounding soil and water, where nearby wild plants take them up and become toxic (Goulson 2014; Botias et al 2016), potentially exposing bees at a large scale to the residues. These residues aren’t at high enough concentrations to kill the bees outright, however they are enough to affect the ability of these insects to survive.
Studies have shown the detrimental effects, such as reduced production of brood and reduced food consumption, of neonicotinoids on pollinators in the laboratory (Mommaerts et al. 2010; Laycock et al. 2012), and reduced growth rate and queen production in semi-field studies where pollinator species are exposed to pesticide in laboratory conditions and then left to forage independently (Gill et al. 2012; Whitehorn et al.
Bees are important pollinators, worth over US$150 billion per year worldwide. Populations have been declining for many years due to a variety of stressors in their environment. Parasites and pesticides are a major interacting threat faced by bees. Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid pesticide widely used which comes into contact with bees while they forage on pollen and nectar. To investigate whether field realistic concentrations of clothianidin have an effect on the prevalence of gut parasites Crithidia bombi, Apicystis bombi and Nosema apis in Bombus terrestris, colonies were exposed for two weeks to clothianidin diluted to 1ppb in sugar water. Colonies treated with clothianidin had a higher prevalence of Crithidia bombi than control …show more content…
Pesticides and parasites are major interacting threats to populations (Goulson et al. 2015). There is an increasing diversity of parasites in bumblebees, and infections may have a role in the declines of wild bee populations (Colla et al. 2006; Goulson et al. 2008). The extent to which pesticides can influence the prevalence of harmful gut parasites in bumblebees is little understood. It is important to know how pesticides effect the gut parasites in pollinators as the parasites can have a direct negative affect on colony mortality. The three most common gut parasites found in bumblebees are, Apicystis bombi which is a Neogregarine, Crithidia bombi which is a Trypanosome, and Nosema sp which are microsporidian …show more content…
2012), and can have devastating effects on pollinators (Rundlöf et al. 2015). The majority of the active ingredients (80 – 98%) leach out of treated plants and seeds into the surrounding soil and water, where nearby wild plants take them up and become toxic (Goulson 2014; Botias et al 2016), potentially exposing bees at a large scale to the residues. These residues aren’t at high enough concentrations to kill the bees outright, however they are enough to affect the ability of these insects to survive.
Studies have shown the detrimental effects, such as reduced production of brood and reduced food consumption, of neonicotinoids on pollinators in the laboratory (Mommaerts et al. 2010; Laycock et al. 2012), and reduced growth rate and queen production in semi-field studies where pollinator species are exposed to pesticide in laboratory conditions and then left to forage independently (Gill et al. 2012; Whitehorn et al.