Effects of multiple stressors on the health of different bee species

von Denise Castle

130 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

In recent decades, concerns about declining bee populations have multiplied, including managed honey bees and wild bees. The reasons for this decline have been widely discussed and researched during the last decades. In addition to parasites and pathogens, the use of agrochemicals and diminishing food resource quality and quantity are suspected to be the principal factors behind dwindling bee populations. In the past, most studies focussed on the effects of single stressors; however, the focus on studying the impact of combined stressors has recently increased, as stressors may operate interactively. For example, the quality and quantity of bee nutrition may affect the susceptibility of bees to pathogens or agrochemicals, and mixtures of some pesticides may act synergistically rather than additively.
In this dissertation, three studies were conducted to investigate the combined effects of insecticides, fungicides and nutrition on three commercially used bee species (Apis mellifera L., Bombus terrestris L., Osmia bicornis L.) via laboratory and semi-field experiments. The three bee species researched in this dissertation, namely the highly eusocial honey bee A. mellifera, the primitively eusocial buff-tailed bumble bee B. terrestris and the solitary mason bee O. bicornis, have different levels of sociality and are therefore well suited as model organisms for this scientific issue.

• Reihe: Dissertationen aus dem Julius Kühn-Institut
• ISBN: 9783955471309
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 21.07.2023
• Genre: Biologie/Landwirtschaft, Gartenbau, Forstwirtschaft, Fischerei, Ernährung
• Verlag: Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen (JKI)