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Agricultural intensification impairs behavioral abilities and the expression of genes associated with social responsiveness in honey bees

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Aug 12, 2024 version files 210.25 KB

Abstract

The honey bee Apis mellifera is one of the main pollinators in agroecosystems, and consequently, its colonies are exposed to agricultural intensification. These practices lead to increased use of agrochemicals, resulting in fragmented and more homogeneous habitats. In an agricultural setting located in the region of the Argentine Pampas, behavioral and molecular approaches were performed in honey bee colonies to compare their global state at different times of crop management. Our results show that foraging honey bees captured in these beehives impaired their gustatory sensitivity, cognitive abilities, and the brain’s expression of several genes related to metabolic, immune and neuronal processes associated with social behavior in bees after pesticide application and the flowering of the surrounding crops. To our knowledge, no previous study has reported the impaired effects of agricultural intensification on insect pollinators from an integrative neurobiological perspective under realistic conditions.