Title |
Neonicotinoid pesticides severely affect honey bee queens
|
---|---|
Published in |
Scientific Reports, October 2015
|
DOI | 10.1038/srep14621 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Geoffrey R. Williams, Aline Troxler, Gina Retschnig, Kaspar Roth, Orlando Yañez, Dave Shutler, Peter Neumann, Laurent Gauthier |
Abstract |
Queen health is crucial to colony survival of social bees. Recently, queen failure has been proposed to be a major driver of managed honey bee colony losses, yet few data exist concerning effects of environmental stressors on queens. Here we demonstrate for the first time that exposure to field-realistic concentrations of neonicotinoid pesticides during development can severely affect queens of western honey bees (Apis mellifera). In pesticide-exposed queens, reproductive anatomy (ovaries) and physiology (spermathecal-stored sperm quality and quantity), rather than flight behaviour, were compromised and likely corresponded to reduced queen success (alive and producing worker offspring). This study highlights the detriments of neonicotinoids to queens of environmentally and economically important social bees, and further strengthens the need for stringent risk assessments to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services that are vulnerable to these substances. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 5 | 24% |
United States | 3 | 14% |
Canada | 2 | 10% |
Netherlands | 1 | 5% |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 5% |
Switzerland | 1 | 5% |
Uruguay | 1 | 5% |
Unknown | 7 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 16 | 76% |
Scientists | 4 | 19% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 5% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 5 | 1% |
Canada | 2 | <1% |
Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
Norway | 1 | <1% |
Colombia | 1 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
Mexico | 1 | <1% |
Serbia | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 388 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 65 | 16% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 61 | 15% |
Student > Master | 56 | 14% |
Researcher | 51 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 25 | 6% |
Other | 65 | 16% |
Unknown | 78 | 19% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 181 | 45% |
Environmental Science | 42 | 10% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 28 | 7% |
Chemistry | 8 | 2% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 2% |
Other | 41 | 10% |
Unknown | 94 | 23% |