Cross-taxa sublethal impacts of plant protection products on honeybee in-hive and zebrafish swimming behaviours at environmentally relevant concentrations.

Single and mixture exposure to plant protection products (PPPs) can affect non-target organisms at sublethal concentrations, yet the ecological relevance of behavioural effects remains underexplored. Behavioural disruptions can compromise survival and fitness, with exposure occurring across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, we assess the behavioural impact of environmentally relevant PPP concentrations on two ecologically and toxicologically important model species: honeybees (Apis mellifera) and zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Comprehension of the age-dependent gut and brain interaction of honey bee workers by integration of multi omics approaches.

Introduction: In honey bees, division of labour is a key feature, with age-related behavioural transitions being closely associated with molecular changes in the brain, gut, and microbiota. Despite evidence of both microbiome and brain changes in honey bees, most studies focus on either aspect or a single method of investigation, limiting our understanding of their interconnected roles in development and task differentiation.

Objectives: In this study, we investigated the molecular changes in the gut and brain in honey bee workers of different ages using (meta-)proteomics and metabolomics to better understand their contribution to behavioural responses and modulation.

Local floral resources and edge density within the urban ecosystem promote larger and less variable body size in the great banded furrow bee, Halictus scabiosae.

Unlabelled: An organism’s body size is a fundamental trait linked to its metabolism, life-history and dispersal. In holometabolous insects, whose size is fixed at adult eclosion, body size can be influenced by environmental factors during development (e.g.

A guide to sunflowers: floral resource nutrition for bee health and key pollination syndromes.

Sunflower, L., is a prominent global oilseed crop with rising cultivation and appeal as a bee-friendly plant by providing abundant floral resources for pollinators. Mass-flowering crops can increase the availability of resources, and sunflower is a good opportunity to relieve pollen scarcity during the late summer in agricultural landscapes.

Polyfloral nutritional resources promote bumble bee colony development after exposure to a pesticide mixture.

Bumble bees are important pollinators of crops in the field and greenhouses. They are naturally exposed to a combination of interacting stressors, e.g.

Neonicotinoid and EBI fungicide in combination hazard the population of red mason bees under field conditions.

Mixing several agrochemicals, e.g., insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides, is a common practice by farmers, enhancing the economic and efficacy of a single application.

Nurse honey bees filter fungicide residues to maintain larval health.

Residues of plant protection products (PPPs) are frequently detected in bee matrices due to foraging bees collecting contaminated nectar and pollen, which they bring back to their hive. The collected material is further used by nurse bees to produce glandular secretions for feeding their larvae. Potential exposure to PPPs occurs through direct oral ingestion, contact during foraging, or interaction with contaminated hive material.

Honey bees for pesticide monitoring in the landscape: Which bee matrices should be used?

Among bee species, the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is preferred in monitoring studies performed in the agricultural landscape, while bee matrices, pollen, and honey are mostly a subject of these studies due to their unique composition. A justified question about the relevance of other bee matrices, like larvae, foragers, beebread, and/or wax, has been raised. The ability of different bee matrices (wax, pollen grains, bee bread, foragers, larvae, nectar, and honey) to absorb pesticide residues is subjected in this study.

Honey bee colonies can buffer short-term stressor effects of pollen restriction and fungicide exposure on colony development and the microbiome.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have to withstand various environmental stressors alone or in combination in agriculture settings. Plant protection products are applied to achieve high crop yield, but residues of their active substances are frequently detected in bee matrices and could affect honey bee colonies. In addition, intensified agriculture could lead to resource limitation for honey bees.

Brood indicators are an early warning signal of honey bee colony loss-a simulation-based study.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are exposed to multiple stressors such as pesticides, lack of forage, and diseases. It is therefore a long-standing aim to develop robust and meaningful indicators of bee vitality to assist beekeepers While established indicators often focus on expected colony winter mortality based on adult bee abundance and honey reserves at the beginning of the winter, it would be useful to have indicators that allow detection of stress effects earlier in the year to allow for adaptive management. We used the established honey bee simulation model BEEHAVE to explore the potential of different indicators such as population size, number of capped brood cells, flight activity, abundance of Varroa mites, honey stores and a brood-bee ratio.

Standardising bee sampling: A systematic review of pan trapping and associated floral surveys.

The use of coloured pan traps (bee bowls, Moericke traps) for sampling bees (and other pollinators) has continuously increased over the last two decades. Although a number of methodological studies and conceptual frameworks offer guidance on standardised sampling, pan trap setups vary widely in characteristics even when optimised for capturing bees. Moreover, some uncertainty persists as to how local flower abundance and diversity influence sampling.

Using equivalence tests in higher tier studies of honey bees under the revised EFSA Bee Guidance-How?

The proposed use of equivalence tests instead of difference tests in the revised guidance on the risk assessment of plant protection products for bees is a reasonable approach given an adverse effect was observed in the lower tier studies, using the hypothesis that there is a risk as the null hypothesis places the burden to prove the opposite on the other side. However, some uncertainties regarding the application of equivalence tests in field studies are discussed in the present study. Here, we compare equivalence and difference testing methods using a control dataset of a honey bee field effect study conducted in northern Germany in 2014.

Insects' essential role in understanding and broadening animal medication.

Like humans, animals use plants and other materials as medication against parasites. Recent decades have shown that the study of insects can greatly advance our understanding of medication behaviors. The ease of rearing insects under laboratory conditions has enabled controlled experiments to test critical hypotheses, while their spectrum of reproductive strategies and living arrangements - ranging from solitary to eusocial communities - has revealed that medication behaviors can evolve to maximize inclusive fitness through both direct and indirect fitness benefits.

Risk assessment requires several bee species to address species-specific sensitivity to insecticides at field-realistic concentrations.

In the European registration process, pesticides are currently mainly tested on the honey bee. Since sensitivity data for other bee species are lacking for the majority of xenobiotics, it is unclear if and to which extent this model species can adequately serve as surrogate for all wild bees. Here, we investigated the effects of field-realistic contact exposure to a pyrethroid insecticide, containing lambda-cyhalothrin, on seven bee species (Andrena vaga, Bombus terrestris, Colletes cunicularius, Osmia bicornis, Osmia cornuta, Megachile rotundata, Apis mellifera) with different life history characteristics in a series of laboratory trials over two years.

A selected organosilicone spray adjuvant does not enhance lethal effects of a pyrethroid and carbamate insecticide on honey bees.

As part of the agricultural landscape, non-target organisms, such as bees, may be exposed to a cocktail of agrochemicals including insecticides and spray adjuvants like organosilicone surfactants (OSS). While the risks of insecticides are evaluated extensively in their approval process, in most parts of the world however, authorization of adjuvants is performed without prior examination of the effects on bees. Nevertheless, recent laboratory studies evidence that adjuvants can have a toxicity increasing effect when mixed with insecticides.

Anatomical, phenological and genetic aspects of the host-parasite relationship between (Hymenoptera) and (Strepsiptera).

is an endoparasite of the mining bee with extreme sexual dimorphism and hypermetamorphosis. Its population structure, parasitization mode, genetic diversity and impact on host morphology were examined in nesting sites in Germany to better understand this highly specialized host–parasite interaction. The shift in host emergence due to stylopization was proven to be especially strong in .

Potential Risk of Residues From Neonicotinoid-Treated Sugar Beet Flowering Weeds to Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.).

In 2018 the European Union (EU) banned the three neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid, clothianidin (CLO), and thiamethoxam (TMX), but they can still be used if an EU Member State issues an emergency approval. Such an approval went into effect in 2021 for TMX-coated sugar beet seeds in Germany. Usually, this crop is harvested before flowering without exposing non-target organisms to the active ingredient or its metabolites.

The degree of urbanisation reduces wild bee and butterfly diversity and alters the patterns of flower-visitation in urban dry grasslands.

Insect-provided pollination services are increasingly threatened due to alarming declines in insect pollinator populations. One of the main threats to insect pollinators and consequently pollination is urbanisation. Here, we investigate the effects of local habitat quality (patch size, flowering plant richness, bare soil cover, vegetation structure), degree of urbanisation (impervious surfaces) and 3D connectivity on bee, hoverfly and butterfly flower visitors and plant-flower visitor networks in flower-rich urban dry grasslands.

Effects of Flupyradifurone and Two Reference Insecticides Commonly Used in Toxicological Studies on the Larval Proteome of the Honey bee .

The western honey bee is globally distributed due to its beekeeping advantages and plays an important role in the global ecology and economy. In recent decades, several studies have raised concerns about bee decline. Discussed are multiple reasons such as increased pathogen pressure, malnutrition or pesticide use.

In the battle of the disease: a transcriptomic analysis of European foulbrood-diseased larvae of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera).

Background: European foulbrood is a significant bacterial brood disease of Apis sp. and can cause severe and devastating damages in beekeeping operations. Nevertheless, the epidemiology of its causative agent Melissococcus plutonius has been begun to uncover but the underlying mechanisms of infection and cause of disease still is not well understood.

Large-scale study investigating the effects of a tank mixture containing thiacloprid-prochloraz on honey bees (Apis mellifera).

Risk assessment of plant protection products (PPPs) will be conducted before authorization for their possible effects on non-target organisms, including honey bees. Tank mixtures are often common practice by farmers, and mostly their effects on honey bees are not routinely assessed. To enable a realistic assessment of laboratory-reported effects of a combination of the insecticide thiacloprid and fungicide prochloraz on honey bees, a large-scale field study with spray application in winter oilseed rape was conducted in four regions in Germany.

Simulation of Varroa mite control in honey bee colonies without synthetic acaricides: Demonstration of Good Beekeeping Practice for Germany in the BEEHAVE model.

The BEEHAVE model simulates the population dynamics and foraging activity of a single honey bee colony () 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.

Nutritional resources modulate the responses of three bee species to pesticide exposure.

The response of bee species to various stressors is assumed to depend on the availability of sufficient nutrients in their environment. We compare the response of three bee species (Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris, Osmia bicornis) under laboratory conditions. Survival, physiology, and sensitivity, after exposure to the fungicide prochloraz, the insecticide chlorantraniliprole, and their mixture with different nutritional resources (sugar only, sugar with amino acids or pollen) were observed.