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Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Field-level clothianidin exposure affects bumblebees but generally not their pathogens

Author

  • Dimitry Wintermantel
  • Barbara Locke
  • Georg K.S. Andersson
  • Emilia Semberg
  • Eva Forsgren
  • Julia Osterman
  • Thorsten Rahbek Pedersen
  • Riccardo Bommarco
  • Henrik G. Smith
  • Maj Rundlöf
  • Joachim R. de Miranda

Summary, in English

Neonicotinoids are implicated in bee declines and laboratory studies imply that they impair the bee immune system, thereby precipitating a rise in pathogen levels. To establish whether such synergisms reduce bee performance in real-world agricultural landscapes, we analysed the microbial composition of the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) samples from our recent landscape study on the impacts of field-level clothianidin exposure. We related clothianidin exposure and microbial composition to both individual- and colony-level performance parameters, to better understand the direct and indirect mechanistic effects of neonicotinoid exposure on bumblebees. We show that exposure to clothianidin from seed-coated oilseed rape reduces bumblebee size and numbers, particularly of reproductives. However, exposure does not affect the levels of non-pathogenic bacteria or viruses, nor induce rises in the levels or virulence of intracellular parasites. We conclude that field exposure to the neonicotinoid clothianidin affects bumblebee performance but generally not their pathogenic or beneficial microbiota.

Department/s

  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • Biodiversity
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Publishing year

2018

Language

English

Publication/Series

Nature Communications

Volume

9

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

Status

Published

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2041-1723