Development of Scaptotrigona postica Latreille, 1807 exposed to sublethal doses of pesticides focusing on sensory organs

• Grant number: 22/08799-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: April 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Roberta Cornélio Ferreira Nocelli
• Grantee: Joyce Bovo
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Araras , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/21097-3 - Bee-agriculture interactions: perspectives to sustainable use, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

The decline of pollinators has been widely discussed and associated with several factors, including the use of pesticides. Bees are the main pollinators of native plants and economically important crops and social bees are a group representative of these insects, within which stingless bees are found. Being Brazil a country with strong agricultural activity, it is necessary to know the effects on native bees so that protective measures can be taken, as there is a knowledge gap about the effectiveness of risk assessment tests for pesticides currently used to protect these species. The present study has the objective of collaborating to fill this knowledge gap, testing whether the exposure to sublethal doses of pesticides, alone and in combination, affect the development of the species Scaptotrigona postica, focusing on sensory organs. For this, individuals in the larval stage will be exposed through contaminated food in four experimental groups: (1) food + pyraclostrobin; (2) food + thiamethoxam; (3) food + pyraclostrobin + thiamethoxam; (4) food only (control). It will be evaluated the development of bees through the parameters of food consumption, defecation, pupation, emergence and mortality; and sensory organs development, through scanning electron microscope analysis of the compound eyes and antennas. The data obtained will be analyzed using an appropriate statistical analysis model for each of the parameters evaluated.