Title
Pollen nutrition fosters honeybee tolerance to pesticides
Date Issued
01 September 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Barascou L.
Sene D.
Barraud A.
Michez D.
Lefebvre V.
Medrzycki P.
Di Prisco G.
Strobl V.
Neumann P.
Le Conte Y.
Alaux C.
University of Bern
Publisher(s)
Royal Society Publishing
Abstract
A reduction in floral resource abundance and diversity is generally observed in agro-ecosystems, along with widespread exposure to pesticides. Therefore, a better understanding on how the availability and quality of pollen diets can modulate honeybee sensitivity to pesticides is required. For that purpose, we evaluated the toxicity of acute exposure and chronic exposures to field realistic and higher concentrations of azoxystrobin (fungicide) and sulfoxaflor (insecticide) in honeybees provided with pollen diets of differing qualities (named S and BQ pollens). We found that pollen intake reduced the toxicity of the acute doses of pesticides. Contrary to azoxystrobin, chronic exposures to sulfoxaflor increased by 1.5- to 12-fold bee mortality, which was reduced by pollen intake. Most importantly, the risk of death upon exposure to a high concentration of sulfoxaflor was significantly lower for the S pollen diet when compared with the BQ pollen diet. This reduced pesticide toxicity was associated with a higher gene expression of vitellogenin, a glycoprotein that promotes bee longevity, a faster sulfoxaflor metabolization and a lower concentration of the phytochemical p-coumaric acid, known to upregulate detoxification enzymes. Thus, our study revealed that pollen quality can influence the ability of bees to metabolize pesticides and withstand their detrimental effects, providing another strong argument for the restoration of suitable foraging habitat.
Volume
8
Issue
9
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85115027966
Source
Royal Society Open Science
ISSN of the container
20545703
Sponsor(s)
This project received funding from the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 773921 (L.B., Y.L.C. and C.A.).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus