Effects of neonicotinoid insecticide exposure and monofloral diet on nest-founding bumblebee queens.

ABSTRACT: Bumblebees are among the world's most important groups of pollinating insects in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Each spring, queen bumblebees emerge from overwintering and initiate new nests, which ultimately give rise to workers and new reproductives later in the season. Nest initiation and survival are thus key drivers of both bumblebee pollination services and population dynamics. We performed the first laboratory experiment with the model bumblebee species Bombus impatiens that explores how early nesting success is impacted by the effects of temporary or more sustained exposure to sublethal levels of a neonicotinoid-type insecticide (imidacloprid at 5 ppb in nectar) and by reliance on a monofloral pollen diet, two factors that have been previously implicated in bumblebee d

SUBMITTER: Leza M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6015844 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature