Williams Geoffrey R, Troxler Aline, Retschnig Gina, Roth Kaspar, Yañez Orlando, Shutler Dave, Neumann Peter, Gauthier Laurent
Institute of Bee Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 3003 Bern, Switzerland.
Agroscope, Swiss Bee Research Centre, 3003 Bern, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2015 Oct 13;5:14621. doi: 10.1038/srep14621.
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.
蜂王健康对于群居蜜蜂群体的生存至关重要。最近，蜂王衰弱被认为是导致养殖蜜蜂群体损失的主要原因，但关于环境压力源对蜂王影响的数据却很少。在此，我们首次证明，在发育过程中接触田间实际浓度的新烟碱类杀虫剂会严重影响西方蜜蜂（意大利蜜蜂）的蜂王。在接触杀虫剂的蜂王中，生殖解剖结构（卵巢）和生理机能（受精囊储存的精子质量和数量）受到损害，而非飞行行为，这可能导致蜂王成功率降低（存活并产出工蜂后代）。本研究突出了新烟碱类物质对具有环境和经济重要性的群居蜜蜂蜂王的危害，并进一步强化了进行严格风险评估以保护易受这些物质影响的生物多样性和生态系统服务的必要性。
