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Gekière A, Breuer L, Dorio L, Vanderplanck M, Michez D. Lethal effects and sex-specific tolerance of copper and cadmium in the buff-tailed bumble bee. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 2024; 110:104546. [PMID: 39197507 DOI: 10.1016/j.etap.2024.104546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2024] [Revised: 08/22/2024] [Accepted: 08/23/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024]
Abstract
Exposure to environmental pollutants, including trace metals, is a major driver of bee decline worldwide. While pesticides undergo standardised risk assessments (i.e., LD50) and the implementation of online databases, no such approaches exist for trace metals. Here, using acute oral exposure, we determined the LC50, LD50, and mass-standardised LD50 of copper and cadmium, essential and non-essential metals, respectively, in workers and males of the buff-tailed bumble bee. We also evaluated gut damage and sucrose consumption in workers post-exposure. Cadmium was more toxic than copper for workers at same doses, although both metals induced severe gut melanisation and reduced sucrose consumption at high concentrations. Males displayed higher tolerance to cadmium, but it was correlated to their higher body mass, emphasising the necessity for reporting mass-standardised LD50 for genuine sex comparisons in risk assessments. Our findings advocate for the establishment of databases focusing on metal-induced lethal effects on model bee species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Gekière
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 20 Place du Parc, Mons 7000, Belgium.
| | - Luna Breuer
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 20 Place du Parc, Mons 7000, Belgium.
| | - Luca Dorio
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 20 Place du Parc, Mons 7000, Belgium.
| | - Maryse Vanderplanck
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier 34293, France.
| | - Denis Michez
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 20 Place du Parc, Mons 7000, Belgium.
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Klatt BK, Wurz A, Herbertsson L, Rundlöf M, Svensson GP, Kuhn J, Vessling S, de La Vega B, Tscharntke T, Clough Y, Smith HG. Seed treatment with clothianidin induces changes in plant metabolism and alters pollinator foraging preferences. ECOTOXICOLOGY (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2023; 32:1247-1256. [PMID: 38062283 PMCID: PMC10724316 DOI: 10.1007/s10646-023-02720-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Neonicotinoids, systemic insecticides that are distributed into all plant tissues and protect against pests, have become a common part of crop production, but can unintentionally also affect non-target organisms, including pollinators. Such effects can be direct effects from insecticide exposure, but neonicotinoids can affect plant physiology, and effects could therefore also be indirectly mediated by changes in plant phenology, attractiveness and nutritional value. Under controlled greenhouse conditions, we tested if seed treatment with the neonicotinoid clothianidin affected oilseed rape's production of flower resources for bees and the content of the secondary plant products glucosinolates that provide defense against herbivores. Additionally, we tested if seed treatment affected the attractiveness of oilseed rape to flower visiting bumblebees, using outdoor mesocosms. Flowers and leaves of clothianidin-treated plants had different profiles of glucosinolates compared with untreated plants. Bumblebees in mesocosms foraged slightly more on untreated plants. Neither flower timing, flower size nor the production of pollen and nectar differed between treatments, and therefore cannot explain any preference for untreated oilseed rape. We instead propose that this small but significant preference for untreated plants was related to the altered glucosinolate profile caused by clothianidin. Thereby, this study contributes to the understanding of the complex relationships between neonicotinoid-treated crops and pollinator foraging choices, by suggesting a potential mechanistic link by which insecticide treatment can affect insect behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Björn K Klatt
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden.
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden.
- School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability, Biology & Environmental Sciences, Halmstad University, 30118, Halmstad, Sweden.
| | - Annemarie Wurz
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Crop Sciences, Agroecology, University of Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
- Conservation Ecology, Department of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Lina Herbertsson
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Maj Rundlöf
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | | | - Jürgen Kuhn
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Sofie Vessling
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Bernardo de La Vega
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Teja Tscharntke
- Department of Crop Sciences, Agroecology, University of Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Yann Clough
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Henrik G Smith
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
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Gekière A, Semay I, Gérard M, Michez D, Gerbaux P, Vanderplanck M. Poison or Potion: Effects of Sunflower Phenolamides on Bumble Bees and Their Gut Parasite. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:545. [PMID: 35453744 PMCID: PMC9030180 DOI: 10.3390/biology11040545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Revised: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Specific floral resources may help bees to face environmental challenges such as parasite infection, as recently shown for sunflower pollen. Whereas this pollen diet is known to be unsuitable for the larval development of bumble bees, it has been shown to reduce the load of a trypanosomatid parasite (Crithidia bombi) in the bumble bee gut. Recent studies suggested it could be due to phenolamides, a group of compounds commonly found in flowering plants. We, therefore, decided to assess separately the impacts of sunflower pollen and its phenolamides on a bumble bee and its gut parasite. We fed Crithidia-infected and -uninfected microcolonies of Bombus terrestris either with a diet of willow pollen (control), a diet of sunflower pollen (natural diet) or a diet of willow pollen supplemented with sunflower phenolamides (supplemented diet). We measured several parameters at both microcolony (i.e., food collection, parasite load, brood development and stress responses) and individual (i.e., fat body content and phenotypic variation) levels. As expected, the natural diet had detrimental effects on bumble bees but surprisingly, we did not observe any reduction in parasite load, probably because of bee species-specific outcomes. The supplemented diet also induced detrimental effects but by contrast to our a priori hypothesis, it led to an increase in parasite load in infected microcolonies. We hypothesised that it could be due to physiological distress or gut microbiota alteration induced by phenolamide bioactivities. We further challenged the definition of medicinal effects and questioned the way to assess them in controlled conditions, underlining the necessity to clearly define the experimental framework in this research field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Gekière
- Laboratoire de Zoologie, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium;
| | - Irène Semay
- Organic Synthesis and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium; (I.S.); (P.G.)
| | - Maxence Gérard
- Insect Lab., Division of Functional Morphology, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 11418 Stockholm, Sweden;
| | - Denis Michez
- Laboratoire de Zoologie, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium;
| | - Pascal Gerbaux
- Organic Synthesis and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium; (I.S.); (P.G.)
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