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Exposure of Larvae of the Solitary Bee Osmia bicornis to the Honey Bee Pathogen Nosema ceranae Affects Life History - PubMed

  • ️Tue Jan 01 2019

Exposure of Larvae of the Solitary Bee Osmia bicornis to the Honey Bee Pathogen Nosema ceranae Affects Life History

Kathrin Bramke et al. Insects. 2019.

Abstract

Wild bees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops and they are threatened by several environmental stressors including emerging pathogens. Honey bees have been suggested as a potential source of pathogen spillover. One prevalent pathogen that has recently emerged as a honey bee disease is the microsporidian Nosema ceranae. While the impacts of N. ceranae in honey bees are well documented, virtually nothing is known about its effects in solitary wild bees. The solitary mason bee Osmia bicornis is a common pollinator in orchards and amenable to commercial management. Here, we experimentally exposed larvae of O. bicornis to food contaminated with N. ceranae and document spore presence during larval development. We measured mortality, growth parameters, and timing of pupation in a semi-field experiment. Hatched individuals were assessed for physiological state including fat body mass, wing muscle mass, and body size. We recorded higher mortality in the viable-spore-exposed group but could only detect a low number of spores among the individuals of this treatment. Viable-spore-treated individuals with higher head capsule width had a delayed pupation start. No impact on the physiological status could be detected in hatched imagines. Although we did not find overt evidence of O. bicornis infection, our findings indicate that exposure of larvae to viable N. ceranae spores could affect bee development.

Keywords: Nosema ceranae; Osmia bicornis; bee diseases; bee health; pathogen transmission; solitary bees; wild bees.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1

Female head capsule width and fresh body weight (pharate dataset), N = 139.

Figure A2
Figure A2

Male head capsule width and fresh body weight (pharate dataset), N = 363.

Figure 1
Figure 1

Significant differences in mortality between treatment groups including both larval and pharate state (N = 915, deaths non-viable spore exposure: 29, deaths viable spore exposure: 51).

Figure 2
Figure 2

Significant differences in head capsule width in treatment groups within the larvae of both sexes.

Figure 3
Figure 3

Interaction between head capsule width and pupation start of main treatment groups ‘Control’ and ‘Spores’.

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