Characterization of tomato electrical activity in interaction with social, parasocial and solitary bees after exposure to neonicotinoids

• Grant number: 20/13455-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2020
• End date: March 12, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Ferraz de Oliveira
• Grantee: Cristiano Ferrara de Resende
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/21097-3 - Bee-agriculture interactions: perspectives to sustainable use, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

Pollinators play an essential role in the maintenance of ecosystems and are fundamental to agriculture, for this reason the interaction between plants and pollinators has been extensively investigated, with chemical signals being considered the main signals involved in this process. However, the role of electrostatic forces on pollination has also been researched and studies reveal that the electric field of flowers is an important clue used by pollinators, since bees can detect and learn about them. Considering that the indiscriminate use of pesticides poses a threat to many species of bees, the objective is to characterize the pattern of electrical responses of tomato in interaction with different native species of bees, social, parasocial and solitary with and without exposure to neonicotinoids. For this purpose, extracellular and intracellular measurements of electrical signals will be performed in tomato plants, cv. Micro-Tom, through the techniques of insertion of electrodes in the stem (extracellular) and Electrical Penetration Graph - EPG (intracellular).