Institute of Bee Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Agroscope, Swiss Bee Research Centre, Bern, Switzerland.
Commun Biol. 2020 Jun 26;3(1):335. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-1066-2.
The widespread prophylactic usage of neonicotinoid insecticides has a clear impact on non-target organisms. However, the possible effects of long-term exposure on soil-dwelling organisms are still poorly understood especially for social insects with long-living queens. Here, we show that effects of chronic exposure to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on black garden ant colonies, Lasius niger, become visible before the second overwintering. Queens and workers differed in the residue-ratio of thiamethoxam to its metabolite clothianidin, suggesting that queens may have a superior detoxification system. Even though thiamethoxam did not affect queen mortality, neonicotinoid-exposed colonies showed a reduced number of workers and larvae indicating a trade-off between detoxification and fertility. Since colony size is a key for fitness, our data suggest long-term impacts of neonicotinoids on these organisms. This should be accounted for in future environmental and ecological risk assessments of neonicotinoid applications to prevent irreparable damages to ecosystems.
新烟碱类杀虫剂的广泛预防性使用对非靶标生物有明显影响。然而，长期暴露对土壤生物的可能影响，特别是对具有长寿蚁后的社会性昆虫的影响，仍知之甚少。在这里，我们表明，黑蚁（Lasius niger）在第二次越冬前就已经表现出对噻虫嗪的慢性暴露的影响。在噻虫嗪及其代谢物噻虫啉的残留比值方面，蚁后和工蚁存在差异，这表明蚁后可能具有优越的解毒系统。尽管噻虫嗪不会影响蚁后死亡率，但接触新烟碱类杀虫剂的蚁群的工蚁和幼虫数量减少，表明解毒和繁殖之间存在权衡。由于蚁群大小是适应度的关键，我们的数据表明新烟碱类杀虫剂对这些生物的长期影响。在未来对新烟碱类杀虫剂应用的环境和生态风险评估中，应考虑到这一点，以防止对生态系统造成不可挽回的损害。
