Insect and Pesticide Research

Honey bee populations have been declining at alarming rates over the past two decades, driven by a tangle of interacting stressors that researchers are still working to pull apart. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which act on the insect nervous system and are widely applied to crops, have emerged as a central concern alongside parasitic Varroa mites and the viral pathogens they transmit — each capable of compromising bee immunity on its own, and potentially far more damaging in combination. Scientists are increasingly examining how pesticide exposure reshapes the gut microbiota that bees depend on for digestion and immune defense, and whether nutritional quality from diverse pollen sources can buffer some of these harms. Key open questions include how low, sublethal doses of pesticides interact with pathogens at the colony level, and how to weigh the agricultural necessity of chemical pest control against its measurable costs to pollinator health.

Works

109,354

Total citations

1,377,288

Keywords

NeonicotinoidsHoney BeesColony Collapse DisorderPesticide ExposureVarroa MitesGut Microbiota