Fungicide suppression of flight performance in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) and its amelioration by quercetin.

ABSTRACT: As a managed agricultural pollinator, the western honeybee Apis mellifera frequently encounters agrochemicals as contaminants of nectar and pollen. One such contaminant, the fungicide boscalid, is applied at bloom in orchards for fungal floral pathogen control. As an inhibitor of complex II in the mitochondrial electron transport chain of fungi, boscalid can potentially interfere with high energy-demanding activities of bees, including flight. We designed an indoor flight treadmill to evaluate impacts of ingesting boscalid and/or quercetin, a ubiquitous phytochemical in bee food that also affects mitochondrial respiration. Boscalid reduced the wingbeat frequencies of foragers during flight but did not alter the duration of flight. At the colony level, boscalid ingestion may thereby

SUBMITTER: Liao LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6939911 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature