Pollen nutrition fosters honeybee tolerance to pesticides
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The availability of nutritive resources is a key factor affecting honeybee health. However, a reduction in floral resource abundance and diversity is generally observed in agro-ecosystems, along with widespread exposure to pesticides. We therefore studied whether the availability and quality of pollen diets could affect the susceptibility of honeybees to pesticides. For that purpose, we evaluated the toxicity of azoxystrobin (fungicide) and sulfoxaflor (insecticide) in honeybees provided with pollen diets of differing qualities. We found that both pollen availability and most importantly its quality (bees rarely facing a total lack of pollen) can improve their ability to eliminate pesticides and reduce the mortality risk that they cause.
This nutritional modulation may increase variability in pesticide sensitivity in the field, given that the abundance and composition of honeybee pollen diets can be highly variable across landscapes and seasons. Consequently, the availability of floral resources should be considered in honeybee pesticide risk assessment. Finally, this study provides another strong argument for the restoration of floral resource abundance and diversity in such habitats.
Link to the study: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210818
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PoshBee: Pan-european assessment, monitoring, and mitigation Of Stressors on the Health of BEEs
Ongoing | 2018-2023
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- United Kingdom