Upper-limit agricultural dietary exposure to streptomycin in the laboratory reduces learning and foraging in bumblebees.

ABSTRACT: In the past decade, the broadcast-spray application of antibiotics in US crops has increased exponentially in response to bacterial crop pathogens, but little is known about the sublethal impacts on beneficial organisms in agroecosystems. This is concerning given the key roles that microbes play in modulating insect fitness. A growing body of evidence suggests that insect gut microbiomes may play a role in learning and behaviour, which are key for the survival of pollinators and for their pollination efficacy, and which in turn could be disrupted by dietary antibiotic exposure. In the laboratory, we tested the effects of an upper-limit dietary exposure to streptomycin (200 ppm)-an antibiotic widely used to treat bacterial pathogens in crops-on bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) associativ

SUBMITTER: Avila L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8826297 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature