Combined neonicotinoid pesticide and parasite stress alter honeybee queens' physiology and survival.

ABSTRACT: Honeybee colony survival strongly relies on the queen to overcome worker losses exposed to combined stressors like pesticides and parasites. Queen's capacity to withstand these stressors is however very little known. The effects of the common neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid in a chronic and sublethal exposure together with the wide distributed parasite Nosema ceranae have therefore been investigated on queen's physiology and survivorship in laboratory and field conditions. Early physiological changes were observed on queens, particularly the increase of enzyme activities (catalase [CAT] and glutathione-S-transferase [GST] in the heads) related to protective responses to xenobiotics and oxidative stress against pesticide and parasite alone or combined. Stressors also alter the activity

SUBMITTER: Dussaubat C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5005999 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature