Synthetic fertilizers alter floral biophysical cues and bumblebee foraging behavior.

ABSTRACT: The use of agrochemicals is increasingly recognized as interfering with pollination services due to its detrimental effects on pollinators. Compared to the relatively well-studied chemical toxicity of agrochemicals, little is known on how they influence various biophysical floral cues that are used by pollinating insects to identify floral rewards. Here, we show that widely used horticultural and agricultural synthetic fertilizers affect bumblebee foraging behavior by altering a complex set of interlinked biophysical properties of the flower. We provide empirical and model-based evidence that synthetic fertilizers recurrently alter the magnitude and dynamics of floral electrical cues, and that similar responses can be observed with the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid. We show that bio

SUBMITTER: Hunting ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9802097 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature