Global pollinators, like honeybees, are declining in abundance and diversity, which can adversely affect natural ecosystems and agriculture. Therefore, we tested the current hypotheses describing honeybee losses as a multifactorial syndrome, by investigating integrative effects of an infectious organism and an insecticide on honeybee health. We demonstrated that the interaction between the microsporidia Nosema and a neonicotinoid (imidacloprid) significantly weakened honeybees. This provides the first evidences that interaction between an infectious organism and a chemical can also threaten pollinators, interactions that are widely used to eliminate insect pests in integrative pest management. An independent American study by Pettis et al. recently confirmed these results.
Sources:
Cédric Alaux, Jean-Luc Brunet, Claudia Dussaubat, Fanny Mondet, Sylvie Tchamitchan, Marianne Cousin, Julien Brillard, Aurelie Baldy, Luc P Belzunces, and Yves Le Conte. Environ Microbiol. 2010 March; 12(3): 774–782 (attached)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2847190/
Jeffery S. Pettis & Dennis vanEngelsdorp & Josephine Johnson & Galen Dively (2012)
Pesticide exposure in honey bees results in increased levels of the gut pathogen Nosema
Naturwissenschaften DOI 10.1007/s00114-011-0881-1 (attached)
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