Negative effects of neonicotinoids on male honeybee survival, behaviour and physiology in the field

1. Agricultural chemicals such as neonicotinoid insecticides are believed to be one important factor responsible for the recent reduction in health of pollinating insects like the western honeybee (Apis mellifera). However, effects of neonicotinoids on male (drone) honeybee health remain severely understudied.

2. We examined for the first time the multi-dimensional effects of field-realistic concentrations of two common neonicotinoid insecticides (thiamethoxam and clothianidin) on drone honeybee survival, behaviour, and physiology using individuals reared and maintained as adults in the field.

3. Our data showed that neonicotinoids reduced honeybee drone survival by 51%, increased drifting behaviour to non-maternal colonies by 100%, delayed flight activities by three days, and reduced number of living sperm by 28%. However, they did not influence the sperm concentration produced by the drones, the strength of the drone’s maternal colonies, or the total number of drones produced by...

1. 新烟碱类杀虫剂（neonicotinoid insecticides）等农用化学品被认为是近期西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）等传粉昆虫健康水平下降的重要诱因之一。然而，新烟碱类杀虫剂对雄性（雄蜂）蜜蜂健康的影响仍未得到充分研究。
2. 本研究首次在野外条件下饲养并维持成年雄蜂，探究了两种常见新烟碱类杀虫剂——噻虫嗪（thiamethoxam）和噻虫胺（clothianidin）——在田间实际使用浓度下对雄蜂存活、行为与生理的多维度影响。
3. 实验数据显示，新烟碱类杀虫剂可使雄蜂存活率降低51%，使飞往非母群的漂游行为增加100%，延迟飞行活动达3天，并使存活精子数量减少28%。但此类药剂并未影响雄蜂产生的精子浓度、雄蜂母群的群势，亦未影响由……产生的雄蜂总数量。