Biology subjects

Balle, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Balle, M..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Beyond Pollination: Computer Vision Reveals how Flower Visitors, Climate and Agroforestry Management Drive Cocoa Yields in China and Brazil

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a multi-billion-dollar crop that is strongly affected by climate change. As a pollination-limited crop, improving little-understood pollination services in agroforestry systems may offer a scalable solution to increase yield sustainably in a changing climate. Here, we use embedded computer vision devices and structural equation models to quantify the interactions of flower visitors and temperature across shade tree-diversity and canopy cover gradients in cocoa systems on fruit set, as a yield precursor. In China and Brazil we show that flower visits are done by nectar and pollen foragers (23.1%), herbivores (6.1%), predators (2.3%), and visitors combining the three functions (63%). Forager visits were driven by increased shade-tree diversity and canopy cover management, with stronger effects in China than in Brazil. Foraging midges in China and multifunctional ants in Brazil enhanced fruit set, showing that diverse pollinators across continents affect cocoa yields. In China, higher canopy cover reduced aphids foraging and feeding on flower tissue, while in Brazil temperature increase reduced flowering. Overall, new technologies can guide implementation of agroforestry management strategies to enhance pollination while reducing pest pressures to ensure sustainable cocoa production under climate change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Long-term exposure to microplastics and heat affects bumblebee behavior patterns, colony development and social networks

Pollinators are crucial for terrestrial ecosystems and global food security, but their populations are declining from multiple stressors including pollution and climate change. The effects of plastic pollution alone or in interaction with climate change on pollinators remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigate sublethal microplastic exposure effects on pollinators at individual, colony and network level in combination with heating to simulate climate warming. We conducted a one-generation trial on 30 bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) colonies in a customized beekeeping structure with a nesting and a foraging room, where colonies were maintained under optimal temperature (25 {square}) or heated condition (30 {square}), and fed with oil-seed rape pollens and 50% w/w sucrose solution containing 0, 10, or 100 mg/L 30 m polyethylene beads. Real-time tracking with object detection (F1 = 83%) and matrix code scanning showed that microplastic exposure and heat significantly stimulated individual activity and altered labor division. Workers shifted to nursing behaviors and foraged more frequently for sucrose solution and less for pollen. Brood development was impaired by up to 48%, and colony population growth was restrained by 12-15%. Microplastic exposure and heating also significantly intensified social interactions and increased the dominance of the queen in her colony. These findings suggest that plastic pollution has complex, cross-level impacts on bumblebee colonies and their pollination potential, which may be exacerbated under climate change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Diversification mitigates pesticide but not microplastic effects on bees without compromising rapeseed yield in China

Humanity depends on agriculture for food, fiber and energy provisioning, but input-intensive agricultural production is impacting ecosystem services such as pollination. Pollution effects from neonicotinoid insecticides on pollinators receive much attention, but nothing is known on the synergistic effects with emerging plastic contaminants and the mitigation potential of agricultural diversification. Here, we conduct the first large-scale and full-factorial mesocosm study to understand two-generation effects of diversified floral resources (diversification treatment), neonicotinoid and microplastic pollution (pollution treatments) on Osmia cornifrons bees in 72 mesocosms. In our three-year experiment, we found that diversification can mitigate individual neonicotinoid effects. We did not find any individual or synergistic effects of microplastic on reproductive performance of solitary bees. None of our treatments affected rapeseed yield. Our results confirm the benefits of diversified flower resources to mitigate pesticide effects on bees in China and suggest that microplastics have no acute individual or interaction toxicity in semi-natural environment at realistic exposure levels. Diversified flower resources in Chinese agricultural landscapes to mitigate pesticide pollution effects on pollinators is an important policy argument for pollinator protection with downstream implications for food security.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Eyes on nature: Embedded vision cameras for multidisciplinary biodiversity monitoring

Global environmental challenges require comprehensive data to manage and protect biodiversity. Currently, vision-based biodiversity monitoring efforts are mixed, incomplete, human-dependent, and passive. To tackle these issues, we present a portable, modular, low-power device with embedded vision for biodiversity monitoring. Our camera uses interchangeable lenses to resolve barely visible and remote subjects, as well as customisable algorithms for blob detection, region-of-interest classification, and object detection to identify targets. We showcase our system in six case studies from the ethology, landscape ecology, agronomy, pollination ecology, conservation biology, and phenology disciplines. Using the same devices, we discovered bats feeding on durian tree flowers, monitored flying bats and their insect prey, identified nocturnal insect pests in paddy fields, detected bees visiting rapeseed crop flowers, triggered real-time alerts for waterbirds, and tracked flower phenology over months. We measured classification accuracies between 55% and 96% in our field surveys and used them to standardise observations over highly-resolved time scales. The cameras are amenable to situations where automated vision-based monitoring is required off the grid, in natural and agricultural ecosystems, and in particular for quantifying species interactions. Embedded vision devices such as this will help addressing global biodiversity challenges and facilitate a technology-aided global food systems transformation.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Inhibition of striatal SEZ6 by miR-3594-5p is a drug-specific marker for late-stage heroin intake escalation

Escalation of drug use is a hallmark stage in the transition to addiction and uncovering its underlying brain molecular mechanisms constitutes a considerable challenge. Here, we report in rats with extended access to heroin for self-administration that miR-3594-5p was upregulated in the dorsal striatum at late, but not early, stages during escalation when excessive heroin intake plateaued. Striatal miR-3594-5p bound directly to the 3UTR region of Sez6 transcript and inhibited its expression, thereby decreasing the mature form of the translated SEZ6 protein. This miR-3594-5p/Sez6 interaction was specific to heroin, as it was not observed with cocaine, and correlated with the severity of heroin intake escalation. Our findings reveal that miRNA alterations during escalation of drug self-administration are spatially and temporally regulated and drug-specific.

neuroscience↗