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Harris C, Balfour NJ, Ratnieks FLW. Floral resource wastage: Most nectar produced by the mass-flowering crop oilseed rape ( Brassica napus) is uncollected by flower-visiting insects. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11453. [PMID: 38774143 PMCID: PMC11106685 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Cultivation of the mass-flowering crop oilseed rape (OSR), Brassica napus, can provide insects with super-abundant nectar and pollen while in bloom. Several authors have suggested breeding cultivars to produce more abundant nectar and pollen to help mitigate insect decline. However, in Britain most, 95%, OSR blooms in spring (March-May), which has been suggested to be a period of nectar surplus and reduced exploitative competition. Therefore, a large proportion of floral resources produced by OSR during this period may be uncollected. Although there has been extensive work examining OSR nectar and pollen production, no study, to our knowledge, has measured this in relation to the demand by the flower-visiting insects. Here we quantified the percentage of nectar produced by spring blooming OSR which was uncollected in four OSR fields per year over 2 years. This was achieved by measuring the nectar in both insect accessible and inaccessible (i.e. mesh-covered) flowers. We also quantified uncollected pollen in flowers at the beginning and the end of anthesis using a haemocytometer. Most of the nectar (69%) and a fifth of pollen (19%) was uncollected in spring blooming OSR. Based on the estimates of nectar production and observed number of insects, nectar supply per insect was estimated at 2204 μL nectar insect-1 h-1, which exceeds potential collection rates by flower-visiting insects. Given the majority of B. napus is spring blooming, breeding cultivars of OSR which produce more nectar, while not being detrimental to flower-visiting insects, may be of little conservation benefit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ciaran Harris
- Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI), School of Life SciencesUniversity of SussexBrightonUK
| | - Nicholas J. Balfour
- Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI), School of Life SciencesUniversity of SussexBrightonUK
| | - Francis L. W. Ratnieks
- Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI), School of Life SciencesUniversity of SussexBrightonUK
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Arias-Calluari K, Colin T, Latty T, Myerscough M, Altmann EG. Modelling daily weight variation in honey bee hives. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010880. [PMID: 36857336 PMCID: PMC9977058 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023] Open
Abstract
A quantitative understanding of the dynamics of bee colonies is important to support global efforts to improve bee health and enhance pollination services. Traditional approaches focus either on theoretical models or data-centred statistical analyses. Here we argue that the combination of these two approaches is essential to obtain interpretable information on the state of bee colonies and show how this can be achieved in the case of time series of intra-day weight variation. We model how the foraging and food processing activities of bees affect global hive weight through a set of ordinary differential equations and show how to estimate the parameters of this model from measurements on a single day. Our analysis of 10 hives at different times shows that the estimation of crucial indicators of the health of honey bee colonies are statistically reliable and fall in ranges compatible with previously reported results. The crucial indicators, which include the amount of food collected (foraging success) and the number of active foragers, may be used to develop early warning indicators of colony failure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karina Arias-Calluari
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Theotime Colin
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Tanya Latty
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Mary Myerscough
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Eduardo G. Altmann
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Cang T, Lou Y, Zhu YC, Li W, Weng H, Lv L, Wang Y. Mixture toxicities of tetrachlorantraniliprole and tebuconazole to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) and the potential mechanism. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 172:107764. [PMID: 36689864 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The extensive use of pesticides has negative effects on the health of insect pollinators. Although pollinators in the field are seldom exposed to individual pesticides, few reports have assessed the toxic impacts of pesticide combinations on them. In this work, we purposed to reveal the combined impacts of tetrachlorantraniliprole (TET) and tebuconazole (TEB) on honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Our data exhibited that TET had greater toxicity to A. mellifera (96-h LC50 value of 298.2 mg a.i. L-1) than TEB (96-h LC50 value of 1,841 mg a.i. L-1). The mixture of TET and TEB displayed acute synergistic toxicity to the pollinators. Meanwhile, the activities of CarE, CYP450, trypsin, and sucrase, as well as the expressions of five genes (ppo, abaecin, cat, CYP4G11, and CYP6AS14) associated with immune response, oxidative stress, and detoxification metabolism, were conspicuously altered when exposed to the mixture relative to the individual exposures. These results provided an overall comprehension of honey bees upon the challenge of sublethal toxicity between neonicotinoid insecticides and triazole fungicides and could be used to assess the intricate toxic mechanisms in honey bees when exposed to pesticide mixtures. Additionally, these results might guide pesticide regulation strategies to enhance the honey bee populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Cang
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Yancen Lou
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Yu-Cheng Zhu
- United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), 141 Experiment Station Road, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA
| | - Wenhong Li
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China; Guizhou Institute of Plant Protection, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang 550006, Guizhou, PR China
| | - Hongbiao Weng
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Lu Lv
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China.
| | - Yanhua Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products / Key Laboratory of Detection for Pesticide Residues and Control of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, Zhejiang, PR China.
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Schödl I, Odemer R, Becher MA, Berg S, Otten C, Grimm V, Groeneveld J. Simulation of Varroa mite control in honey bee colonies without synthetic acaricides: Demonstration of Good Beekeeping Practice for Germany in the BEEHAVE model. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9456. [PMID: 36381398 PMCID: PMC9643073 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Revised: 10/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The BEEHAVE model simulates the population dynamics and foraging activity of a single honey bee colony (Apis mellifera) in great detail. Although it still makes numerous simplifying assumptions, it appears to capture a wide range of empirical observations. It could, therefore, in principle, also be used as a tool in beekeeper education, as it allows the implementation and comparison of different management options. Here, we focus on treatments aimed at controlling the mite Varroa destructor. However, since BEEHAVE was developed in the UK, mite treatment includes the use of a synthetic acaricide, which is not part of Good Beekeeping Practice in Germany. A practice that consists of drone brood removal from April to June, treatment with formic acid in August/September, and treatment with oxalic acid in November/December. We implemented these measures, focusing on the timing, frequency, and spacing between drone brood removals. The effect of drone brood removal and acid treatment, individually or in combination, on a mite-infested colony was examined. We quantify the efficacy of Varroa mite control as the reduction of mites in treated bee colonies compared to untreated bee colonies. We found that drone brood removal was very effective, reducing mites by 90% at the end of the first simulation year after the introduction of mites. This value was significantly higher than the 50-67% reduction expected by bee experts and confirmed by empirical studies. However, literature reports varying percent reductions in mite numbers from 10 to 85% after drone brood removal. The discrepancy between model results, empirical data, and expert estimates indicate that these three sources should be reviewed and refined, as all are based on simplifying assumptions. These results and the adaptation of BEEHAVE to the Good Beekeeping Practice are a decisive step forward for the future use of BEEHAVE in beekeeper education in Germany and anywhere where organic acids and drone brood removal are utilized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Schödl
- Department of Ecological ModellingHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZLeipzigGermany
| | - Richard Odemer
- Julius Kühn‐Institute (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated PlantsInstitute for Bee ProtectionBraunschweigGermany
| | - Matthias A. Becher
- Artificial Life Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Karl‐Franzens University GrazGrazAustria
| | - Stefan Berg
- Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture, Institute for Bee Research and BeekeepingVeitshöchheimGermany
| | - Christoph Otten
- Service Centre for Rural Areas (DLR), Expert Centre for Bees and BeekeepingMayenGermany
| | - Volker Grimm
- Department of Ecological ModellingHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZLeipzigGermany
- Plant Ecology and Nature ConservationUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
| | - Jürgen Groeneveld
- Department of Ecological ModellingHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZLeipzigGermany
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Reiner D, Spangenberg MC, Grimm V, Groeneveld J, Wiegand K. Chronic and Acute Effects of Imidacloprid on a Simulated BEEHAVE Honeybee Colony. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2022; 41:2318-2327. [PMID: 35771006 DOI: 10.1002/etc.5420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators for wild plants as well as for crops, but honeybee performance is threatened by several stressors including varroa mites, gaps in foraging supply, and pesticides. The consequences of bee colony longtime exposure to multiple stressors are not well understood. The vast number of possible stressor combinations and necessary study duration require research comprising field, laboratory, and simulation experiments. We simulated long-term exposure of a honeybee colony to the insecticide imidacloprid and to varroa mites carrying the deformed wing virus in landscapes with different temporal gaps in resource availability as single stressors and in combinations. Furthermore, we put a strong emphasis on chronic lethal, acute sublethal, and acute lethal effects of imidacloprid on honeybees. We have chosen conservative published values to parameterize our model (e.g., highest reported imidacloprid contamination). As expected, combinations of stressors had a stronger negative effect on bee performance than each single stressor alone, and effect sizes were larger after 3 years of exposure than after the first year. Imidacloprid-caused reduction in bee performance was almost exclusively due to chronic lethal effects because the thresholds for acute effects were rarely met in simulations. In addition, honeybee colony extinctions were observed by the last day of the first year but more pronounced on the last days of the second and third simulation year. In conclusion, our study highlights the need for more long-term studies on chronic lethal effects of pesticides on honeybees. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2318-2327. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik Reiner
- Department of Ecosystem Modelling, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Volker Grimm
- Department of Ecological Modelling, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jürgen Groeneveld
- Department of Ecological Modelling, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kerstin Wiegand
- Department of Ecosystem Modelling, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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Steele TN, Schürch R, Ohlinger BD, Couvillon MJ. Apple orchards feed honey bees during, but even more so after, bloom. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Roger Schürch
- Department of Entomology Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia USA
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