No effect of dual exposure to sulfoxaflor and a trypanosome parasite on bumblebee olfactory learning.

ABSTRACT: Bees are important pollinators in wild and agricultural ecosystems, and understanding the factors driving their global declines is key to maintaining these pollination services. Learning, which has been a focus of previous ecotoxicological studies in bees, may play a key role in driving colony fitness. Here we move beyond the standard single-stressor approach to ask how multiple stressors, an agrochemical (sulfoxaflor, a relatively new insecticide) and a parasite (Crithidia bombi, a prevalent gut parasite of bumblebees), impact learning in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. We developed a modified version of the classic proboscis extension reflex assay to assess the combined effects of acute oral sulfoxaflor exposure and infection by C. bombi on olfactory learning of bumblebee workers. We fo

SUBMITTER: Vaughan OP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9124203 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature