Agroscope researchers' publications can be found in the Institutional Repository. If the PDF of the publication is freely available, it can be downloaded. Otherwise, the publication reference will inform you of where the paper was published.
By entering the Web Code a Publication can be accessed directly.
The Web Code for Agroscope publications is displayed at the bottom of the 'details' page of a publication: Publication ID (Web Code): 12345
You can search the metadata of a publication by entering a search term: Title, Subtitle, Summary, Source Name, ISBN, ISSN, DOI, Keywords
Dimitry Wintermantel, Maria-Helena Pereira-Peixoto, Nadja Warth, Kristin Melcher, Michael Faller, Joachim Feurer, Matthew J. Allan, Robin Dean, Giovanni Tamburini, Knauer A., Schwarz J., Albrecht M., Alexandra-Maria Klein
Flowering resources modulate the sensitivity of bumblebees to a common fungicide.
Science of the Total Environment, 829, 2022, 1-11.
Bees are exposed to various stressors, including pesticides and lack of flowering resources. Despite potential interactions between these stressors, the impacts of pesticides on bees are generally assumed to be consistent across bee-attractive crops, and regulatory risk assessments of pesticides neglect interactions with flowering resources. Furthermore, impacts of fungicides on bees are rarely examined in peer-reviewed studies, although these are often the pesticides that bees are most exposed to. In a full-factorial semi-field experiment with 39 large flight cages, we assessed the single and combined impacts of the globally used azoxystrobin-based fungicide Amistar® and three types of flowering resources (Phacelia, buckwheat, and a floral mix) on Bombus terrestris colonies. Although Amistar is classified as bee-safe, Amistar exposure through Phacelia monocultures reduced adult worker body mass and colony growth (including a 55% decline in workers and an 88% decline in males), while the fungicide had no impact on colonies in buckwheat or the floral mix cages. Furthermore, buckwheat monocultures hampered survival and fecundity irrespective of fungicide exposure. This shows that bumblebees require access to complementary flowering species to gain both fitness and fungicide tolerance and that Amistar impacts are flowering resource-dependent. Our findings call for further research on how different flowering plants affect bees and their pesticide tolerance to improve guidelines for regulatory pesticide risk assessments and inform the choice of plants that are cultivated to safeguard pollinators.
