Forewing structure of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis developing on heavy metal pollution gradient

Abstract

Wild bees in natural conditions can develop under various environmental stressors. Heavy metal pollution of the environment is one of the most widely studied stressors in insects, yet its effect is poorly described in bees. We have measured how pollution of the environment along a zinc, cadmium and lead contamination gradient in Poland affects bee development, using red mason bees (Osmia bicornis) as a model and their forewing asymmetry measures to assess possible developmental instabilities. We have also described wing asymmetry measures in the red mason bee—an important managed pollinator species—for the first time. The development of bee larvae in a contaminated environment did not affect forewing asymmetry measures, but it did lead to a negative correlation of wing size with contamination in females. Bees also showed a clear change in their asymmetry measures between various seasons, suggesting other, unknown environmental factors affecting wing asymmetry more than pollution. Sexes were found to have different forewing shape and size, larger females having larger forewings than the smaller males. The direction of size asymmetry was in favour of the left side in both sexes and also shape differences between the left and right wings showed similar tendencies in males and females. The levels of forewing shape and size asymmetry were smaller in females, making them the more symmetrical sex.

Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments

“…Because the same genes express both sides of a bilateral trait, any asymmetry between the sides may be due to environmental disturbance, so that potentially FA could be used as an indicator of stress (Görür, 2006). FA was previously shown in different animals to increase with exposure to pollutants and/or to be higher in stressed (e.g., urban) environments (e.g., Beasley et al, 2013; Nunes et al, 2015), although other studies failed to find such relationship (e.g., Szentgyörgyi et al, 2017).…”

Urbanisation and wing asymmetry in the western honey bee (Apis mellifera, Linnaeus 1758) at multiple scales

“…In the bumblebee Bombus impatiens (Cresson, 1863, Hymenoptera, Apidae), for example, exposure to CO 2 increases wing shape asymmetry ( Klingenberg et al, 2001 ), whilst low temperatures increase wing shape but not wing size asymmetry in the noctuid moth, Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren, 1860, Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ( Hoffmann, Collins & Woods, 2002 ). Furthermore, pollen deprivation has no impact on wing size asymmetry in neither male or female honey bees ( Apis mellifera ) ( Szentgyörgyi et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Attempts to quantify fluctuating asymmetry in the field and associate variation with environmental conditions including gradients of contamination or urbanization have yielded mixed results ( Nunes, Araújo & Marchini, 2015 ; Weller & Ganzhorn, 2004 ; Lutterschmidt, Martin & Schaefer, 2016 ; Banaszak-Cibicka et al, 2018 ). Indeed, red mason bees ( Osmia bicornis , Linnaeus 1758, Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) collected along a zinc, cadmium, and lead contamination gradient in Poland show no difference in wing size or shape asymmetry ( Szentgyörgyi et al, 2017 ). Similarly, euglossine bees ( Eulaema nigrita, Lepoletier 1841, Hymenoptera, Apidae) collected from agricultural landscapes where pesticide use is prevalent did not record higher fluctuating asymmetry than individuals collected from a tropical savannah ( Pinto et al, 2015 ).…”

Pollutants and Their Interaction with Diseases of Social Hymenoptera

“…While many social Hymenoptera may be confronted with heavy metal pollution in strongly human-influenced environments, relatively little data exists on the potential detrimental health effects in comparison to pesticide effects. The detrimental effects of heavy metals include sublethal effects such as impaired learning and memory, as well as higher mortality correlating with higher levels of heavy metal pollution in studies using pollution gradients [46,47,64,71,[131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139].…”