Thiamethoxam as an inadvertent anti-aphrodisiac in male bees

Straub, Lars; Minnameyer, Angela; Camenzind, Domenic; Kalbermatten, Isabelle; Tosi, Simone; Oystaeyen, Annette Van; Wäckers, Félix; Neumann, Peter; Strobl, Verena

doi:10.1016/j.toxrep.2021.12.003

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Additionally, we found bumble bee males to be significantly more sensitive than workers and queens. As pesticides may impact the mating success and fertility of bumble bee males 53 , their exposure might have negative impacts on population dynamics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-specific variation in sensitivity of Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis to three pesticides

Linguadoca

Jürison²,

Hellström³

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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There is growing evidence that pesticides may be among the causes of worldwide bee declines, which has resulted in repeated calls for their increased scrutiny in regulatory assessments. One recurring concern is that the current frameworks may be biased towards assessing risks to the honey bee. This paradigm requires extrapolating toxicity information across bee species. Most research effort has therefore focused on quantifying differences in sensitivity across species. However, our understanding of how responses to pesticides may vary within a species is still very poor. Here we take the first steps towards filling this knowledge gap by comparing acute, lethal hazards in sexes and castes of the eusocial bee Bombus terrestris and in sexes of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis after oral and contact exposure to the pesticides sulfoxaflor, Amistar (azoxystrobin) and glyphosate. We show that sensitivity towards pesticides varies significantly both within and across species. Bee weight was a meaningful predictor of pesticide susceptibility. However, weight could not fully explain the observed differences, which suggests the existence of unexplored mechanisms regulating pesticide sensitivity across bee sexes and castes. Our data show that intra-specific responses are an overlooked yet important aspect of the risk assessment of pesticides in bees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-specific variation in sensitivity of Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis to three pesticides

Linguadoca

Jürison²,

Hellström³

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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show abstract

“…Thus, based on chemical communication and precopulatory behavior being estimators of reproductive output and on the evidence of bee population decline in agricultural environments (Sandrock et al, 2014;Rundlöf et al, 2015;Woodcock et al, 2017;Stuligross & Williams, 2020;Willis Chan & Raine, 2021), we need to acknowledge the genuine concerns being raised that effects on mating behavior lead to reductions in bee populations. Although our overall knowledge of the impact of pesticides on mating is limited at present, it is supported for at least three major crop pollinators with differing sociality levels: (1) eusocial honey bees, Apis mellifera (McAfee et al, 2022), (2) primitively eusocial bees, Bombus terrestris (Straub et al, 2022), and (3) the solitary bee Osmia cornuta (Boff et al, 2022), in addition to the oligolectic bee H. truncorum (this study).…”

Section: Impacts Of Pesticides On Precopulatory Behaviormentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Sublethal effects of pesticides have been found to interfere in courtship and consequently in mating in bees (Boff et al, 2022;McAfee et al, 2022;Straub et al, 2022), providing an additional mechanism explaining wild bee decline in agricultural environments (Rundlöf et al, 2015;Woodcock et al, 2017;Willis Chan & Raine, 2021). Despite evidence of these impacts, only a few studies have demonstrated the mechanism in which pesticides affect mating behavior in wild bees (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exposure to sublethal concentration of flupyradifurone alters sexual behavior and cuticular hydrocarbon profile in Heriades truncorum, an oligolectic solitary bee

Boff,

Ayasse

2023

Insect Science

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The aboveground oligolectic bee, Heriades truncorum, is a particularly good model for studying the impact of pesticides on sexual communication, since some aspects of its mating behavior have previously been described. We have tested (1) the interference of the pesticide flupyradifurone on male precopulatory behavior and male mating partner preferences, (2) the way that the pesticide interferes in male quality assessment by the female, and (3) the effects of the pesticide on the chemical compounds in the female cuticle. We exposed bees of both sexes to a sublethal concentration of flupyradifurone. Various behaviors were registered in a mating arena with two females (one unexposed and one exposed) and one male (either unexposed or exposed). Unexposed males were quicker to attempt to mate. Treatment also impacted precopulatory behavior and male quality assessment by females. Males approached unexposed females more quickly than insecticide‐exposed ones. Females exposed to insecticide produced lower amounts of some cuticular hydrocarbons (sex pheromone candidates) and appeared less choosy than unexposed females. Our findings suggest that insecticide exposure affects sexual communication, playing a role both in male preference and in male quality assessment by the female.

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“…(Zhang et al, 2019c;Tu and Chen, 2021). However, several studies indicate that NEOs may cause harm to non-target organisms, such as butter ies (Knight et al, 2021), bees (Anderson and Harmon-Threatt, 2021;Straub et al, 2022), zebra sh (Guerra et al, 2021), and Daphnia magna (Farkas et al, 2022). In addition, NEOs have been reported to harm the neurological (Costas-Ferreira and Faro, 2021), reproductive (Zhao et al, 2021), and hepatic (Abou-Zeid et al, 2021) functions of mammals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Their Characteristic Metabolites may Induce High Fasting Blood Glucose and Obesity in Human

Zhang,

Zhu,

Zheng

et al. 2024

Expo Health

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Neonicotinoid insecticides (NEOs) nd widespread application globally as a safeguard for agricultural production. While these pollutants exhibit toxicity towards non-target organisms and pose potential risks to human health, there is a noticeable dearth of studies documenting the adverse effects of neonicotinoid insecticides (NEOs) speci cally in humans. In this study, the concentrations of six NEOs and their ve metabolites were measured in the blood samples collected from the normal (n = 130) and obesity (n = 130) cohorts in South China. An evaluation was undertaken to examine the associations between the levels of target analytes and either fasting blood glucose (FBG) or the condition of being overweight. Results showed that the NEOs and their metabolites were frequently detected (63%-100%) in both cohorts, with median levels of 0.01-4.32 ng/mL. Discernible gender-related disparities were noted within the blood samples, manifesting as elevated concentrations of the majority of NEOs and their metabolites in females compared to males. In addition, there were positive correlations between the concentrations of IMIeq (imidacloprid equivalent, calculated using the relative potency factors of NEOs and their metabolites) and UF (a metabolite of dinotefuran) with FBG levels (3.28 ng/mL vs. 4.32 ng/mL for UF, and 34.6 ng/mL vs. 40.6 ng/mL for IMIeq). Moreover, signi cant associations were found between UF [odds ratio = 1.78, 95% con dence interval (CI) = 0.86-4.66, p < 0.01] and IMIeq (odds ratio = 1.66, 95% CI = 0.94-3.56, p < 0.01) concentrations and being overweight. Our ndings indicated that human exposure to NEOs and their metabolites may induce high FBG and obesity. This study documented the pro le of NEOs and their metabolites in the blood samples from the normal and obesity cohorts in South China for the rst time.

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Thiamethoxam as an inadvertent anti-aphrodisiac in male bees

Abstract: Graphical abstract

Cited by 8 publications

References 90 publications

Intra-specific variation in sensitivity of Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis to three pesticides

Intra-specific variation in sensitivity of Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis to three pesticides

Exposure to sublethal concentration of flupyradifurone alters sexual behavior and cuticular hydrocarbon profile in Heriades truncorum, an oligolectic solitary bee

Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Their Characteristic Metabolites may Induce High Fasting Blood Glucose and Obesity in Human

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