Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Otesbelgue, Alex
• dos Santos, Charles Fernando
• Blochtein, Betina

Titel

Queen bee acceptance under threat: Neurotoxic insecticides provoke deep damage in queen-worker relationships

Ist Teil von

• Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 2018-12, Vol.166, p.42-47

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Virgin queens (gynes) exhibit a range of behaviors in order to be accepted as the leader of colony. However, environmental neurotoxic insecticides as neonicotinoids may affect the social performance of the bees. Here, we evaluated the sublethal effects of neonicotinoid imidacloprid on the larval food of queens from Plebeia droryana, a species of neotropical stingless bee. Several behaviors were analyzed as multivariate response variables in a Hotelling test, as well as generalized additive mixed models. Our findings demonstrate that treated queens perform less wing vibration and trophallaxis with their workers. Furthermore, the treated gynes encounter more harassment (aggression) from their workers, suggesting that workers can differentiate nontreated queens from treated queens most likely by chemical signals. Our data indicate that the behavioral repertoire underlying the queen selection process by the stingless bee P. droryana may be seriously affected by residual doses of imidacloprid in larval food. As a result, such queens are rather undernourished and aggressed by workers, which most likely compromises the viability and permanence of colonies in the long term. [Display omitted] •Queen bees need display a wide range of behaviors to be accepted for her workers.•However, neonicotinoid insecticides may impair queen selection process.•Queens exposed to such agrochemicals perform less trophallaxis and wing vibrating.•Queens intoxicated with this neurotoxic substance are more harassed by workers.