A short note on extreme sex ratio in solitary bees Osmia cornuta in semi-field trials testing the impact of neonicotinoids
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Description
The widespread prophylactic use of neonicotinoids has severe negative effects on non-target organisms that provide
ecosystem services. Chronic neonicotinoid exposure led to a male-biased offspring sex ratio in the solitary bee species
Osmia bicornis in laboratory experiments, but semi-field or field data are largely lacking. Here, we used semi-field experiments
to investigate the potential impact of the neonicotinoid clothianidin on the sex ratio of the closely related species
Osmia cornuta. Male and female individuals of O. cornuta were held in flight cages with fully blooming winter oilseed
rape, treated or not with clothianidin. After hibernation, sex ratio of emerging offspring and overwintering mortality
was determined. A total of 191 male and 4 female, and 203 male and 2 female O. cornuta emerged in the control and
the clothianidin treatment, respectively, thereby clearly showing an extremely male-biased sex ratio. However, there
was no significant clothianidin treatment effect. As sex ratio was strongly biased in both, the clothianidin and the control
treatment, our data can obviously not explain the underlying mechanism. Such extreme sex ratios require more attention
in semi-field studies assessing the impacts of pesticides and other stressors on solitary bees.
ecosystem services. Chronic neonicotinoid exposure led to a male-biased offspring sex ratio in the solitary bee species
Osmia bicornis in laboratory experiments, but semi-field or field data are largely lacking. Here, we used semi-field experiments
to investigate the potential impact of the neonicotinoid clothianidin on the sex ratio of the closely related species
Osmia cornuta. Male and female individuals of O. cornuta were held in flight cages with fully blooming winter oilseed
rape, treated or not with clothianidin. After hibernation, sex ratio of emerging offspring and overwintering mortality
was determined. A total of 191 male and 4 female, and 203 male and 2 female O. cornuta emerged in the control and
the clothianidin treatment, respectively, thereby clearly showing an extremely male-biased sex ratio. However, there
was no significant clothianidin treatment effect. As sex ratio was strongly biased in both, the clothianidin and the control
treatment, our data can obviously not explain the underlying mechanism. Such extreme sex ratios require more attention
in semi-field studies assessing the impacts of pesticides and other stressors on solitary bees.
Date of Publication
2019-01
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Language(s)
en
Contributor(s)
Albrecht, Matthias | |
Radford, Sarah | |
Wolf, Sarah |
Additional Credits
Series
Journal of apicultural research
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
ISSN
0021-8839
Access(Rights)
restricted