A Sublethal Concentration of Sulfoxaflor Has Minimal Impact on Buff-Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) Locomotor Behaviour under Aversive Conditioning.

ABSTRACT: Pesticide exposure has been cited as a key threat to insect pollinators. Notably, a diverse range of potential sublethal effects have been reported in bee species, with a particular focus on effects due to exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides. Here, a purpose-built thermal-visual arena was used in a series of pilot experiments to assess the potential impact of approximate sublethal concentrations of the next generation sulfoximine insecticide sulfoxaflor (5 and 50 ppb) and the neonicotinoid insecticides thiacloprid (500 ppb) and thiamethoxam (10 ppb), on the walking trajectory, navigation and learning abilities of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris audax) when subjected to an aversive conditioning task. The results suggest that only thiamethoxam prevents forager bees fro

SUBMITTER: James L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10057571 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature