No impacts of glyphosate or Crithidia bombi, or their combination, on the bumblebee microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Pesticides are recognised as a key threat to pollinators, impacting their health in many ways. One route through which pesticides can affect pollinators like bumblebees is through the gut microbiome, with knock-on effects on their immune system and parasite resistance. We tested the impacts of a high acute oral dose of glyphosate on the gut microbiome of the buff tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), and glyphosate's interaction with the gut parasite (Crithidia bombi). We used a fully crossed design measuring bee mortality, parasite intensity and the bacterial composition in the gut microbiome estimated from the relative abundance of 16S rRNA amplicons. We found no impact of either glyphosate, C. bombi, or their combination on any metric, including bacterial composition. This result differ

SUBMITTER: Straw EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10238469 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature