Queens become workers: pesticides alter caste differentiation in bees.

ABSTRACT: Bees are important for the world biodiversity and economy because they provide key pollination services in forests and crops. However, pesticide use in crops has adversely affected (decreased) queen production because of increased mortality among larvae. Here, we demonstrated that in vitro-reared queens of a neotropical social bee species (Plebeia droryana) also showed high larval mortality after exposure to an organophosphate pesticide (chlorpyrifos) via larval food. Moreover, most of the surviving larvae that were destined to develop into queens became workers more likely because they ate less food than expected without pesticide skewing thus caste differentiation in this bee species. This adverse effect has not been previously reported for any other social insects, such as honeybees or

SUBMITTER: Dos Santos CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4987680 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature