Repeated short-term exposure to diesel exhaust reduces honey bee colony fitness
Repeated short-term exposure to diesel exhaust reduces honey bee colony fitness
Production of insect-pollinated crops is often reliant on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pollination services. Colonies can be managed and moved to meet the demands of modern intensified monoculture farming systems. Increased colony mortalities have been observed, which are thought be caused by interacting factors including exposure to pesticides, parasites, viruses, agricultural intensification, and changes in global and regional climate. However, whilst common tropospheric air pollutants (e.g. NOx, particulate matter etc) are known to cause a range of negative effects on human health, there is little evidence of their impact on the health of A. mellifera. This study investigates the effects of exposure to diesel exhaust on A. mellifera, both at the level of individual foragers and on the whole colony. We exposed a series of colonies to diesel exhaust fumes for 2 h a day over the course of three weeks and contrasted their performance to a series of paired control colonies located at the same field site. We investigated markers of neuronal health in the brains of individual foragers and measured the prevalence of common viruses. Electronic counters monitored daily colony activity patterns and pollen samples from returning foragers were analysed to investigate plant species richness and diversity. The amounts of honey, brood and pollen in each colony were measured regularly. We demonstrated an upregulation of the synapse protein Neurexin 1 in forager brains repeatedly exposed to diesel exhaust. Furthermore, we found that colonies exposed to diesel exhaust lost colony weight after the exposure period until the end of the summer season, whereas control colonies gained weight towards the end of the season. Further investigations are required, but we hypothesise that such effects on both individual foragers and whole colony fitness parameters could ultimately contribute to winter losses of honey bee colonies, particularly in the presence of additional stressors.
Air pollution, Apis mellifera, Colony performance, Diesel exhaust, Learning, Neurexin 1
Reitmayer, Christine
0339b876-4b43-4aac-8057-46fc7ea855e7
Girling, Robbie D
1044dcd8-9b1a-4f9c-bd42-7aa960de5470
Jackson, Christopher
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Newman, Tracey
322290cb-2e9c-445d-a047-00b1bea39a25
1 May 2022
Reitmayer, Christine
0339b876-4b43-4aac-8057-46fc7ea855e7
Girling, Robbie D
1044dcd8-9b1a-4f9c-bd42-7aa960de5470
Jackson, Christopher
ab14e7be-1b25-4425-9e8f-6ccee5b984a8
Newman, Tracey
322290cb-2e9c-445d-a047-00b1bea39a25
Reitmayer, Christine, Girling, Robbie D, Jackson, Christopher and Newman, Tracey
(2022)
Repeated short-term exposure to diesel exhaust reduces honey bee colony fitness.
Environmental Pollution, 300, [118934].
(doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118934).
Abstract
Production of insect-pollinated crops is often reliant on honey bee (Apis mellifera) pollination services. Colonies can be managed and moved to meet the demands of modern intensified monoculture farming systems. Increased colony mortalities have been observed, which are thought be caused by interacting factors including exposure to pesticides, parasites, viruses, agricultural intensification, and changes in global and regional climate. However, whilst common tropospheric air pollutants (e.g. NOx, particulate matter etc) are known to cause a range of negative effects on human health, there is little evidence of their impact on the health of A. mellifera. This study investigates the effects of exposure to diesel exhaust on A. mellifera, both at the level of individual foragers and on the whole colony. We exposed a series of colonies to diesel exhaust fumes for 2 h a day over the course of three weeks and contrasted their performance to a series of paired control colonies located at the same field site. We investigated markers of neuronal health in the brains of individual foragers and measured the prevalence of common viruses. Electronic counters monitored daily colony activity patterns and pollen samples from returning foragers were analysed to investigate plant species richness and diversity. The amounts of honey, brood and pollen in each colony were measured regularly. We demonstrated an upregulation of the synapse protein Neurexin 1 in forager brains repeatedly exposed to diesel exhaust. Furthermore, we found that colonies exposed to diesel exhaust lost colony weight after the exposure period until the end of the summer season, whereas control colonies gained weight towards the end of the season. Further investigations are required, but we hypothesise that such effects on both individual foragers and whole colony fitness parameters could ultimately contribute to winter losses of honey bee colonies, particularly in the presence of additional stressors.
Text
ENVPOL-D-21-08865_R1 (1)
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 30 January 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 February 2022
Published date: 1 May 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was funded as part of a PhD research project funded by The Gerald Kerkut Trust and through funding provided by Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/P002404/1 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords:
Air pollution, Apis mellifera, Colony performance, Diesel exhaust, Learning, Neurexin 1
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454697
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454697
ISSN: 0269-7491
PURE UUID: c5ea089a-2caf-4594-8ef6-7a5ecfcaf1da
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Date deposited: 21 Feb 2022 17:39
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:06
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Author:
Christine Reitmayer
Author:
Robbie D Girling
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