Neonicotinoid effects on tropical bees: Imidacloprid impairs innate appetitive responsiveness, learning and memory in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata

Author(s)

Aguiar, Joao Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente ; Nocelli, Roberta Cornelio Ferreira ; Giurfa, Martin ; Nascimento, Fabio Santos

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 877, p. 8-pg., 2023-03-20.

Abstract

Together with other anthropogenic factors, pesticides play a major role in pollinator decline worldwide. Most studies on their influence on pollinators have focused on honey bees given the suitability of this insect for controlled behav-ioral testing and raising. Yet, studies on pesticide impact should also contemplate tropical species, which contribute a major part of biodiversity and which have remained so far neglected. Here we focused on the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata and asked if the widely used neonicotinoid imidacloprid disrupts its learning and memory capabilities. We fed stingless bees with 0.1, 0.5 or 1 ng of imidacloprid, tested their innate appetitive responsiveness and trained them to associate odors and sucrose reward using the olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension response. The same experiments were performed on Africanized honey bees. One hour after intoxication, both species decreased their innate responsiveness to sucrose but the effect was more accentuated in stingless bees. In both species, learning and memory were affected in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that pesticides have dramatic conse-quences on tropical bee species and claim for rational policies regulating their use in the tropics. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/21097-3 - Bee-agriculture interactions: perspectives to sustainable use
• Grantee: Osmar Malaspina
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 21/05598-8 - The evolution of caste plasticity and caste dimorphism in insect societies
• Grantee: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 19/20408-0 - The effect of pesticides in learning and memory of native Brazilian bees
• Grantee: João Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente Aguiar
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral