Exposure to urban heavy metal contamination diminishes bumble bee colony growth

As a result of their industrial past, legacy cites often have elevated concentrations of soil heavy metal contamination. Metal pollution can have negative and prolonged ecosystem impacts, and bees that forage in these urban ecosystems are at risk of exposure. Legacy cities are known to support species rich bee communities, which highlights the importance of determining the impact of heavy metal contamination on wild bee health. We examined how oral exposure to concentrations of four metals found within the provisions of bees foraging within Cleveland, Ohio, USA influenced colony growth of Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae), a common species within legacy cities across the eastern United States. Colony weight and brood survivorship were compared among hives fed uncontaminated sucrose solution (hereafter nectar), nectar spiked with one metal (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, or lead), and nectar containing all metals, after 15 or 30 d of exposure within flight tents. Across both ex...

受工业历史遗留影响，遗留型城市（legacy cities）的土壤重金属污染浓度通常偏高。重金属污染可对生态系统造成持久负面影响，在这类城市生态系统中觅食的蜂类亦面临重金属暴露风险。现有研究表明，遗留型城市可支撑物种丰富的蜂类群落，这凸显了探明重金属污染对野生蜂类健康影响的重要性。本研究针对美国俄亥俄州克利夫兰市觅食蜂类食物中检出的四种重金属浓度，通过经口暴露途径，探究其对北美熊蜂（Bombus impatiens Cresson，膜翅目：蜜蜂科）种群增长的影响——该物种是美国东部遗留型城市中的常见蜂类。研究人员在飞行笼（flight tents）中开展15天或30天的暴露实验后，对比了三组蜂群的蜂群重量与幼虫存活率：分别喂食未受污染的蔗糖溶液（下文简称花蜜）、添加单种重金属（砷(arsenic)、镉(cadmium)、铬(chromium)或铅(lead)）的花蜜，以及添加全部四种重金属的花蜜的蜂群。在两组暴露时长中均...