Tatarko Anna R, Vannette Rachel L, Frese Steven, Leonard Anne
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, USA.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Jun 25;12(6):250281. doi: 10.1098/rsos.250281. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Wild pollinator declines are increasingly linked to pesticide exposure, yet it is unclear how intraspecific differences contribute to observed variation in sensitivity, and the role gut microbes play in the sensitivity of wild bees is largely unexplored. Here, we investigate site-level differences in survival and microbiome structure of a wild bumble bee exposed to multiple pesticides, both individually and in combination. We collected wild foragers ( = 175) from an alpine meadow, a valley lake shoreline and a suburban park and maintained them on a diet containing a herbicide (glyphosate), a fungicide (tebuconazole), an insecticide (imidacloprid) or a combination of these chemicals. Alpine bees had the highest overall survival, followed by shoreline bees then suburban bees. This was in part explained by body size differences across sites and the presence of conopid parasitoids at two of the sites. Notably, site of origin impacted bee survival on the herbicide, fungicide and combination treatment. We did not find evidence of gut microbiome differences across pesticide treatment, nor a site-by-treatment interaction. Regardless, the survival differences we observed emphasize the importance of considering population of origin when studying pesticide toxicity of wild bees.
野生传粉者数量的减少越来越多地与接触杀虫剂有关，然而，尚不清楚种内差异如何导致观察到的敏感性变化，而且肠道微生物在野生蜜蜂敏感性中所起的作用在很大程度上尚未得到探索。在这里，我们研究了野生大黄蜂在单独或组合接触多种杀虫剂时，其生存和微生物组结构在不同地点的差异。我们从一个高山草甸、一个山谷湖岸线和一个郊区公园收集了野生觅食者（n = 175），并让它们食用含有除草剂（草甘膦）、杀菌剂（戊唑醇）、杀虫剂（吡虫啉）或这些化学物质组合的食物。高山蜜蜂的总体存活率最高，其次是湖岸线蜜蜂，然后是郊区蜜蜂。这部分是由不同地点的体型差异以及其中两个地点存在的康刺腹寄蝇寄生虫所解释的。值得注意的是，起源地影响了蜜蜂在除草剂、杀菌剂和组合处理下的生存。我们没有发现不同杀虫剂处理之间肠道微生物组存在差异的证据，也没有发现地点与处理之间的相互作用。尽管如此，我们观察到的生存差异强调了在研究野生蜜蜂的杀虫剂毒性时考虑其起源种群的重要性。
