Combined pesticide exposure severely affects individual- and colony-level traits in bees.

ABSTRACT: Reported widespread declines of wild and managed insect pollinators have serious consequences for global ecosystem services and agricultural production. Bees contribute approximately 80% of insect pollination, so it is important to understand and mitigate the causes of current declines in bee populations . Recent studies have implicated the role of pesticides in these declines, as exposure to these chemicals has been associated with changes in bee behaviour and reductions in colony queen production. However, the key link between changes in individual behaviour and the consequent impact at the colony level has not been shown. Social bee colonies depend on the collective performance of many individual workers. Thus, although field-level pesticide concentrations can have subtle or sublethal e

SUBMITTER: Gill RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3495159 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature