Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2018
Field-level clothianidin exposure affects bumblebees but generally not their pathogens
Wintermantel, Dimitry; Locke, Barbara; Andersson, Georg K. S.; Semberg, Emilia; Forsgren, Eva; Osterman, Julia; Pedersen, Thorsten Rahbek; Bommarco, Riccardo; Smith, Henrik G.; Rundlof, Maj; de Miranda, Joachim R.Abstract
Neonicotinoids are implicated in bee declines and laboratory studies imply that they impair the bee immune system, thereby precipitating a rise in pathogen levels. To establish whether such synergisms reduce bee performance in real-world agricultural landscapes, we analysed the microbial composition of the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) samples from our recent landscape study on the impacts of field-level clothianidin exposure. We related clothianidin exposure and microbial composition to both individual-and colony-level performance parameters, to better understand the direct and indirect mechanistic effects of neonicotinoid exposure on bumblebees. We show that exposure to clothianidin from seed-coated oilseed rape reduces bumblebee size and numbers, particularly of reproductives. However, exposure does not affect the levels of non-pathogenic bacteria or viruses, nor induce rises in the levels or virulence of intracellular parasites. We conclude that field exposure to the neonicotinoid clothianidin affects bumblebee performance but generally not their pathogenic or beneficial microbiota.Published in
Nature Communications2018, volume: 9, article number: 5446
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Authors' information
Wintermantel, Dimitry
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
Locke, Barbara (Locke Grandér, Barbara)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Andersson, Georg K. S.
Lund University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Osterman, Julia
Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg
Pedersen, Thorsten Rahbek
Swedish Board Agr
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Smith, Henrik G.
Lund University
Rundlof, Maj
Lund University
Rundlof, Maj
University of California Davis
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07914-3
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/97731