Social Disruption: Sublethal pesticides in pollen lead to Apis mellifera queen events and brood loss

Abstract

Eusocial Apis mellifera colonies depend on queen longevity and brood viability to survive, as the queen is the sole reproductive individual and the maturing brood replenishes the shorter lived worker bees. Production of many crops rely on both pesticides and bee pollination to improve crop quantity and quality. We looked at the resiliency of queens and their brood after one month of sublethal exposure to field relevant doses of pesticides that mimic exposure during commercial pollination contracts. We exposed full size colonies to pollen contaminated with field-relevant doses of the fungicides (chlorothalonil and propicanizole), insecticides (chlorypyrifos and fenpropathrin) or both, noting a significant reduction in pollen consumption in colonies exposed to fungicides compared to control. While we found no difference in the total amount of pollen collected per colony, a higher proportion of pollen to non-pollen foragers was detected in all pesticide exposed colonies. After ceasing treatments we measured brood development, discovering a significant increase in brood loss and/or cannibalism across all pesticide exposed groups. Sublethal pesticide exposure in general was linked to reduced production of replacement workers and a change in protein acquisition (pollen vs. non-pollen foraging). Fungicide exposure also resulted in increased loss of the reproductive queen.