Insects 2013, 4(1), 71-89; doi:10.3390/insects4010071
The Effects of Pesticides on Queen Rearing and Virus Titers in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.)
1
Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, 2000 East Allen Road, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
2
Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Bldg. 476 BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
3
Agricultural Marketing Service, National Science Laboratory, 801 Summit Crossing Place, Suite B, Gastonia, NC 28054, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 17 September 2012 / Revised: 30 October 2012 / Accepted: 10 December 2012 / Published: 4 January 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Honey Bee)
Abstract
The effects of sublethal pesticide exposure on queen emergence and virus titers were examined. Queen rearing colonies were fed pollen with chlorpyrifos (CPF) alone (pollen-1) and with CPF and the fungicide Pristine® (pollen-2). Fewer queens emerged when larvae from open foraging (i.e., outside) colonies were reared in colonies fed pollen-1 or 2 compared with when those larvae were reared in outside colonies. Larvae grafted from and reared in colonies fed pollen-2 had lower rates of queen emergence than pollen-1 or outside colonies. Deformed wing virus (DWV) and black queen cell virus were found in nurse bees from colonies fed pollen-1 or 2 and in outside colonies. The viruses also were detected in queen larvae. However, we did not detect virus in emerged queens grafted from and reared in outside colonies. In contrast, DWV was found in all emerged queens grafted from colonies fed pollen-1 or 2 either reared in outside hives or those fed pollen-1 or 2. The results suggest that sublethal exposure of CPF alone but especially when Pristine® is added reduces queen emergence possibly due to compromised immunity in developing queens. View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
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MDPI and ACS Style
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G.; Chen, Y.; Simonds, R. The Effects of Pesticides on Queen Rearing and Virus Titers in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.). Insects 2013, 4, 71-89.
