Wegener Jakob, Ruhnke Haike, Milchreit Kathrin, Kleebaum Katharina, Franke Monique, Mispagel Sebastian, Bischoff Gabriela, Kamp Günter, Bienefeld Kaspar
Bee Research Institute Hohen Neuendorf, F.-Engels-Straße 32, 16540 Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
Bee Research Institute Hohen Neuendorf, F.-Engels-Straße 32, 16540 Hohen Neuendorf, Germany.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2016 Oct;132:379-89. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2016.06.038. Epub 2016 Jul 1.
The evaluation of pesticide side-effects on honeybees is hampered by a lack of colony-level bioassays that not only are sensitive to physiological changes, but also allow predictions about the consequences of exposure for longer-term colony productivity and survival. Here we measured 28 biometrical, biochemical and behavioural indicators in a field study with 63 colonies and 3 apiaries. Colonies were stressed in early summer by feeding them for five days with either the carbamate growth regulator fenoxycarb or the neurotoxic neonicotinoid imidacloprid, or left untreated. Candidate stress indicators were measured 8-64 days later. We determined which of the indicators were influenced by the treatments, and which could be used as predictors in regression analyses of overwintering strength. Among the indicators influenced by fenoxycarb were the amount of brood in colonies as well as the learning performance and 24h-memory of bees, and the concentration of the brood food component 10HDA in head extracts. Imidacloprid significantly affected honey production, total number of bees and activity of the immune-related enzyme phenoloxidase in forager bee extracts. Indicators predictive of overwintering strength but unrelated to insecticide feeding included vitellogenin titer and glucose oxidase-activity in haemolymph/whole body-extracts of hive bees. Apart from variables that were themselves components of colony strength (numbers of bees/brood cells), the only indicator that was both influenced by an insecticide and predictive of overwintering strength was the concentration of 10HDA in worker bee heads. Our results show that physiological and biochemical bioassays can be used to study effects of insecticides at the colony level and assess the vitality of bee colonies. At the same time, most bioassays evaluated here appear of limited use for predicting pesticide effects on colony overwintering strength, because those that were sensitive to the insecticides were not identical with those that were predictive of colony overwintering. Our study therefore illustrates the difficulties involved in evaluating the economic/ecological significance of pesticide-induced stress in honey bee field studies.
由于缺乏群体水平的生物测定方法，对蜜蜂农药副作用的评估受到阻碍。这种生物测定方法不仅要对生理变化敏感，还要能够预测接触农药对长期群体生产力和生存的影响。在此，我们在一项涉及63个蜂群和3个养蜂场的田间研究中，测量了28个生物特征、生化和行为指标。在初夏时，给蜂群连续五天投喂氨基甲酸酯类生长调节剂苯氧威或神经毒性新烟碱类吡虫啉，或者不进行处理，以此对蜂群施加压力。在8 - 64天后测量候选压力指标。我们确定了哪些指标受处理影响，以及哪些指标可用于越冬能力回归分析中的预测因子。受苯氧威影响的指标包括蜂群中的幼虫数量、蜜蜂的学习能力和24小时记忆，以及头部提取物中幼虫食物成分10HDA的浓度。吡虫啉显著影响蜂蜜产量、蜜蜂总数以及觅食蜜蜂提取物中免疫相关酶酚氧化酶的活性。预测越冬能力但与杀虫剂投喂无关的指标包括蜂房蜜蜂血淋巴/全身提取物中的卵黄蛋白原滴度和葡萄糖氧化酶活性。除了本身就是群体强度组成部分的变量（蜜蜂/巢房数量）外，唯一既受杀虫剂影响又能预测越冬能力的指标是工蜂头部10HDA的浓度。我们的结果表明，生理和生化生物测定可用于研究杀虫剂在群体水平上的影响，并评估蜂群的活力。同时，此处评估的大多数生物测定对于预测农药对蜂群越冬能力的影响似乎作用有限，因为那些对杀虫剂敏感的指标与那些预测蜂群越冬的指标并不相同。因此，我们的研究说明了在蜜蜂田间研究中评估农药诱导压力的经济/生态意义所涉及的困难。
