Pollen foraging mediates exposure to dichotomous stressor syndromes in honey bees.

ABSTRACT: Recent declines in the health of honey bee colonies used for crop pollination pose a considerable threat to global food security. Foraging by honey bee workers represents the primary route of exposure to a plethora of toxins and pathogens known to affect bee health, but it remains unclear how foraging preferences impact colony-level patterns of stressor exposure. Resolving this knowledge gap is crucial for enhancing the health of honey bees and the agricultural systems that rely on them for pollination. To address this, we carried out a national-scale experiment encompassing 456 Canadian honey bee colonies to first characterize pollen foraging preferences in relation to major crops and then explore how foraging behavior influences patterns of stressor exposure. We used a metagenetic approa

SUBMITTER: Wizenberg SB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11491753 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature